Break the Chain
by shirozora
Summary: Lives connected to the Avatar in a circle of water, fire, earth, and air, they will guide him to the destiny he hid from so many years ago. To face his fears, doubts and dreams, he needs to break the chain. DISCONTINUED
1. The Calm After the Storm

Author's Note: This is not a "quick fix" fanfiction. This is for the serious reader who appreciates good spelling & grammaer, a logical storyline, canon characters, and sensible serious character relationships. Thank you.

This is a hypothetical Book 3: Fire.

Disclaimer: There is only one disclaimer for the entire story. _Avatar: The Last Airbender_ premises, characters, cities, laws, and world are the copyright of Michael Dimartino, Bryan Konietzko, and Nickelodeon. Any possibly unfamiliar names and settings are copyrighted by Shirozora, as well as this hypothetical storyline.

Extra Note: Chapters 2-8 will be reposted en masse. So far, almost done rewriting Chapter 3...

Let us begin…

**XXX**

**Break the Chain**

**«1 – The Calm after the Storm»**

_Water._

_Earth._

_Fire._

_Air. _

_Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed, and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, an airbender named Aang. And although his airbending skills are great, he still has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone. But I believe Aang can save the world._

**XXX**

He hadn't said a word that would help her cause, but she was sure he knew of their whereabouts. What else could explain why he chose to protect them and in her face?. _Her_ face. Who did he think he was, anyways? Ever since the North Pole debacle he was branded a traitor, but this – defending the _Avatar_ – was too much. He had crossed the line.

_He thinks he can save the rest of the world by protecting the Avatar but he's wrong. Dead wrong. Nothing can stand in the way of me, or the Fire Nation! Nothing!_

A ball of blue fire burst in the palm of her hand and cast light on the cold earthen walls as she left the prisons, two Dai Li agents close behind her. Once two other agents closed and locked the door, she turned to the nearest man.

"My uncle is a very talkative man, entertained by simple comforts. Give him the silent treatment…and don't let him sleep."

She closed her hand into a fist in his face, snuffing out the hot blue light.

The man bowed swiftly, turned on his heels, and went back to talk to the two agents guarding the bowels of the palace. His words reached her ears as she continued down the hall.

"Yes, Princess Azula."

XXX

Ba Sing Se hadn't changed at all. Still the glorious city it had always been, the streets bustled with activity as a new day dawned. But one could hear the murmurs, ripples of words and rumors through the streets, the restlessness that was putting everyone on edge.

'The Avatar. The Avatar was here! Could it be…? But he's gone; someone saw the creature flying over Ba Sing Se. It was headed for the outer walls! And the Earth King, the Earth King was with him! What could this mean? Have you heard? Someone else rules Ba Sing Se now. Not the Dai Li but someone else. They say it's a foreign princess, Princess Azula. Ba Sing Se's never fallen before! Could this be true? Could any of this be true?''

The upper, middle, and lower rings were often oblivious to the goings on of each class, but too many people had seen the air bison fly overhead, the Dai Li were too preoccupied to silence the talking refugees, and rumors were spreading out from the center of the massive city.

_The servants must be hearing this from the nobles, and spreading it to others. News is traveling fast, and the Dai Li are occupied. Once everyone knows, will chaos answer?_

He couldn't see far into the city from where he was standing at: a window of the great palace in the heart of Ba Sing Se. The palace and its grounds spread for miles, and if he narrowed his good eye, he could see blurry activities in the uppermost ring.

_My sister has taken the Earth Kingdom in Father's name. And I…I have restored my honor. That is enough for me. Now I can go home…home…_

The word ran through his head several more times before he tired of trying to understand why he had to force an image of the Fire Nation's royal palace in his mind to connect with that word. _Home_. Azula said his honor was restored. His honor, his home, his country, his throne…then why is Azula the one sitting on the Earth King's throne?

_She helped me show the way. No matter how far I've come…how much I've changed…home and honor is what counts. Home and honor._

Why did it hurt so much to think on that last word? He ran a hand through his hair, remembered shaking his head when Azula suggested he shave off most of it and let the rest grow out so he could tie it up in a topknot, to show he was no longer an outcast. He liked his new hair just fine; all he needed to worry about was trimming it back a bit now and then.

_Why don't I want my topknot back? Without it I'm not a citizen of the Fire Nation. But now that I am…what's holding me back?_

He didn't dare go further with that thought. It wasn't that he didn't know the answer; he was suddenly frightened of what he would be faced with. His conscience.

_Uncle will understand. He must. I will not live in Ba Sing Se serving tea forever. That was only temporary, a stepping stone, a way. I know my destiny, and my destiny is with the Fire Nation. Wherever my nation goes, I go._

But he knew, deep inside, that his destiny was still up in the air, undecided.

XXX

Appa groaned loudly, signaling to the people on his back his complaint and his desire to land. It had only been one whole day since they left Ba Sing Se but it seemed like an eternity had passed. So much had happened…it really was impossible to sort things out and look at them rationally.

Everyone was riled up, tired, angry, and at a loss. Ba Sing Se had fallen but that was, in actuality, the least of their worries. How it fell and to whom it fell were the facts and events festering in their minds.

"I can't believe this!" Sokka exclaimed loudly the moment his feet touched the ground. Beside him Toph practically landed face-first and refused to budge.

"Oh sweet land, don't leave me again!" she sang, her voice muffled by the dirt as she spread her arms and legs out and rubbed them all over the ground. She didn't seem tired at all. Or angry. Then again, she hadn't seen what had taken place beneath the palace. And then again, she was blind.

"Gross," Sokka blanched as the earthbender got dirtier and dirtier.

He turned to help the Earth King down, then yelped as Bosco slid down after the Earth King and onto him. "Get him off!"

The bear moaned and licked him in the face.

"Now Bosco, let him be. He needs to help his friends," the Earth King said sternly. He pushed the spectacles on his nose as he looked up at Appa. "We all need to help his friends."

Toph responded immediately. With some quick shifts of stances she had a walkway of earth rising up and curving onto Appa's back. Sokka quickly ran up the walkway. He turned to the left, then slowly approached the two remaining people on the giant bison. He knelt down in front of his younger sister, who was still cradling the young Air Nomad in her arms. He had fallen asleep again, hadn't waken up since, and she hadn't let him go since they fled Ba Sing Se's walls.

"Here, let me take him," he said, his voice soft.

Nodding wearily, Katara let Sokka take Aang out of her embrace and watched blearily as her older brother carefully carried the Avatar down the walkway. Toph, who by then had joined them on top of Appa, turned towards her.

"Sugar Queen, you all right?"

Toph was never one for kindness, but now everybody needed it. Katara nodded, then slowly lay down on her side and nestled into Appa's back. "I…I'm fine. I'm going to stay right here. You go ahead…I'll be fine."

Toph nodded, her unseeing gaze not quite on the mark, and turned to let the earth take her back down. Appa groaned once the walkway was off of him and eased down until his stomach was on the ground. Sokka looked up, wondering why his sister wasn't coming down, but Toph placed a hand on his forearm and said, "Let her be. I'll look after Aang. Go get some wood."

"And I'll…uh…I don't really know anything about this place…I mean, I've never…I've never been _outside_ Ba Sing Se's outer wall before, so…" the Earth King said uncertainly, looking around the darkened forest. Somewhere something snapped and he backed nervously into his pet bear. Bosco only rumbled something as he wandered off to the edge of the clearing Appa had landed in. He stood up on his hind legs and clawed at a tree.

"You should just say here," Toph said as she gently touched Aang's bald head. "You're the Earth King; the Dai Li will be looking for you, and we're your best protection."

"And Bosco."

"…yeah, and Bosco."

A lonely silence settled. Sokka returned with an armful of dead branches, and set about making a fire. He asked the Earth King to find some stones to make a ring, and although the Earth King had never been ordered about before in his life but he followed it willingly, scouring the grounds for any and all rocks. Sokka didn't bother snapping at him when the man returned carrying rocks of all shapes and sizes; he only picked out what he needed and made a ring. Then with some flint from his pocket, Sokka made a small fire and everyone huddled close to it.

Firelight flickered on their solemn faces, then Toph sighed.

"Well, now what, Snoozles?"

"Snoozles? Who's Snoozles?" the Earth King immediately asked afterwards.

"That would be me," Sokka said lamely, raising his hand. "I don't know, Toph. I don't know what we're going to do now. Aang has to wake up…and, if you haven't noticed, not only did we lose Ba Sing Se – and the _Earth Kingdom _– but we got the Earth King with us – of all people, the Princess _and_ Prince of the Fire Nation on our tails, and no firebending teacher for him."

He jabbed a finger at Aang, who was still sleeping, his head in Toph's lap.

"So I don't know. Maybe we should hide out in one of the villages, wait for Aang to get better. I don't know!" Suddenly Sokka was on his feet, his hands balled into fists, his blue eyes fixed on the fire. "I _hate_ firebenders! I hate them! Look what they did to us! We had everything going for us, then that-that Princess ruined it! She's ruined everything!"

Toph stared in the direction of his voice, leaning back slightly at the outburst. "Sokka, calm down. Take a deep breath. Keep it up and the Dai Li will find us in no time."

"Oh I hope not," the Earth King muttered worriedly. "I'd like to not worry about the Dai Li for just one hour."

"Yeah, me too," Sokka agreed, sitting down heavily on the ground. He was depressed. "I suppose we should sleep. I'll take the first watch. You guys go ahead-"

"Snoozles, you need sleep as much as we do. Don't worry about keeping watch. Remember, nothing can sneak up on me, unless it's flying, and only Aang can do that."

Momo landed on Toph's head and chattered.

"And Momo."

Sokka sighed, then lay down on his side and curled up, his left hand resting on his boomerang. "Fine, Toph. And thanks."

Bosco moaned as he lay down on his stomach near the fire. The Earth King settled against his pet bear's side and with a deep sigh, closed his eyes and nodded off. His spectacles immediately started sliding off his nose.

"You're welcome, Sokka. Night, Momo. Night, Your Majesty."

The lemur yawned, then balled up on Toph's head. She sat there, Aang's head still in her lap. Slowly she touched his shoulder, then the back where Katara said Azula hit him with her lightning. She could feel the unnatural heat through the her fingertips, where the inflammation was in place of the blast wound.

"You have to get better, Twinkle Toes. For all of us," she whispered as her head tipped forward and her eyes slowly closed.

xxx

Katara slept lightly, her mind constantly harassed by the events that unfolded in Ba Sing Se. At times her hands curled into fists, yanking at Appa's fur and he groaned in his sleep, protesting the pain. But she didn't notice, not at the time.

Finally she opened her eyes and was aware of the cool breeze. It was deep in the night, and a crescent moon was in the sky. She turned her head and stared at its white glow.

_Yue…I wonder what you're thinking, what you're seeing now. We're failing, Yue. We're losing this war. You're lucky you're not down here…suffering…like we are…_

With that thought she curled up into a fetal position, pressing down into Appa's fur. She sighed and closed her eyes, willing herself back to sleep.

It wouldn't come. She couldn't escape into the dark forgetfulness. And she knew that if she tried, her dreams, nightmares of Ba Sing Se, would plague her.

She lost so much in that great Earth Kingdom city. She thought she lost it all, back home at the South Pole years ago…but it hurt just as much here. Her mind and her heart pained.

Jet.

What happened to him now? Smellerbee and Longshot told her he'll be fine, but when they brought the Earth King to Lake Laogai, the Dai Li headquarters were gone. Where those two able to get Jet out of there in time? And if so, where were they? She hadn't heard from any of them since that terrible battle underneath the lake.

_I hope you're okay, Jet. Despite all the things you've done, I know you've changed. I hope you're still alive…fighting the Fire Nation like we are. Maybe we'll meet again…_

She sighed.

Aang.

She had never felt fear like what struck her deep down underneath the palace of Ba Sing Se, underneath the entire city itself. Lightning could kill but when Azula struck Aang while in the Avatar State…she realized for the first time how vulnerable Aang really was. She couldn't understand why he couldn't defend himself instantly. Was it because he summoned this State, instead of going into it like he used to? She remembered all those moments when his anger transformed him and he struck wildly, crazily, instantly. In the caves, he made a little earth tent, blocking off everyone, then emerged in the Avatar State, calm, serene, but unable to react to Azula.

_Aang should've known what Azula was going to do. Why didn't he strike first? What was holding him back?_

Whatever it was, it cost everyone dearly. The terror as she held his lifeless body, the shock as Iroh, Dragon of the West, rushed to her aid, and the fact that this old man had given himself up for her, for Aang. Azula was ruthless, and everyone knew it.

Katara hoped Azula didn't kill Iroh immediately. There was a faint hope, a faint sliver of it, that maybe they could rescue Iroh, as payment for what he did for her and Aang.

She was only lucky she still had all of the spirit water Master Pakku gave her, and had not used it on-

Her teeth clenched and her fist pulled at a clump of Appa's fur. He complained and she let go, slightly. Her whole body was tense and she could hear her heart thudding in her ears. The very thought of him made her blood boil.

Zuko.

How _dare_ he do this to her, to Aang, to Iroh! What kind of a fool would turn on the only man who had stood by him for all those years? What kind of a man would toy with her trusting nature, backstab her when she least expects it? Why wouldn't he just give up chasing Aang? For the longest time she believed he had given up, but no, he interrupted the battle with Azula to join his sister, and fight her and Aang. And – to add salt to the injury – he used her moves against her. He imitated her water whips using fire, kept her from overwhelming him.

How _dare_ he!

"_I thought you had changed!"_

"_I have changed."_

Liar. He was a liar, just like his sister. They were both liars. Peas in a pod. Brother and sister. Why did she ever think he could change his ways?

_Arrogant coldhearted jerk! The next time we meet, I won't _ever_ think about holding back! I bet you were lying about your mother to get me to trust you! Well I don't believe you and I will _never_ believe you!_

Appa groaned again and this time shifted on his feet. Katara sat up quickly, then stared at the clump of white fur in her hand.

"I'm sorry, Appa," she whispered, opening her hand and letting the clump float away in the wind. She stroked the air bison's back, then buried her face in the fur. "I'm so sorry…"

Suki.

What happened to her? Princess Azula and her two freaky friends had snuck into the palace with the Kyoshi warrior dress. Did they…they did not. They couldn't have. Suki and her girls were better than that.

But the things Princess Azula and her friends can do…

Hot tears streamed down her face as she curled up into a tight ball, bringing her knees up to her chest. How impossible everything was! And what about Chief Hakoda, their father? Sokka didn't say much, only said that he and the other Southern Water Tribe warriors were off to do battle with the Fire Nation. Did they win? Did anyone survive?

Or did the Fire Nation…

Softly, Katara began to cry.

**XXX**

Author's Endnote: Reviews of all sorts are appreciated.

Where do they go now?


	2. Within the Walls

Author's Note: Some people assumed this was a oneshot. Well, I guess this chapter proved them wrong.

Juggling around viewpoints isn't all that easy, trying to capture all the action through various viewpoints. It's a pain, but listening to _Avatar_ dialogue really helps.

**XXX**

**Break the Chain**

**«2 – Within the Walls»**

"Zuzu…I have news for you."

Addressed person twitched as Azula ran her left index finger along the length of the Earth Throne's armrest. She raised her hand and a small blue flame flickered to life. She began playing with it, bouncing it from one index finger to another, then down a series of fingers and up the other.

"What is it…Azula?"

She smiled at him, a smile both sweet and wicked.

"Father has orders. We're to send Uncle back to the Fire Nation…to stand trial for crimes against the Fire Nation…starting with his attack on the now-deceased Admiral Zhao."

It took him all his willpower not to react to this news. "Is that so?"

Now he could see the frown forming on her lips but she schooled it back into her sadistic smile. "Yes, Zuzu. Would you like to accompany the traitor and me down to the docks? Prove that you're really loyal to the Fire Nation?"

"I _am_ loyal," he said stiffly, angrily. Hadn't he proven to her enough that he was? He chose to stand by her side, by Agni, down at the caves, against the Avatar and that-that Water Tribe peasant girl.

"_I thought you had changed!"_

"_I have changed."_

"Well…I suppose, if you say so. You're never one to lie, are you Zuzu?"

He twitched again. "Stop calling me that."

"Why not?" Her voice hardened considerably and he involuntarily backed away from the throne. "After all, my dear brother, I'm the one in control, and I'm the one calling the shots."

She extinguished the little blue fireball twirling on her index finger and began examining her fingernails. "I need someone from the Fire Nation to do my nails. These simply won't do at all."

"What do you mean? They look…fine to me," Zuko offered. He didn't know what it was Azula wanted with her nails. They were already long… sharp…tapered into claws.

"You wouldn't know, Zuzu. It's a girl thing."

Zuko raised an eye at this. Before he could further question her, a side door opened and three Dai Li agents quickly strode in. Azula was instantly sitting straight, her back rigid, her eyes hard. The cold mask worked wonders on everyone; Zuko twitched and took a real step back.

The three Dai Li agents bowed, then one stepped forward and said, "Princess Azula…our men found these drifting across the outer wall."

He knelt down and held up both his arms. On his rock gloves were strands of white fur.

The air bison. The Avatar's pet. The Avatar!

Zuko fought his outburst back into an explosion in his mind. _Where is he? Tell me where he is!_

Azula calmly leaned forward and beckoned the Dai Li agent closer. He did so in inches, and at the same time she rose from the throne and descended down the stairs of the platform. She plucked out several strands of fur and stared at them, rubbed them between her fingers.

"What were my orders about the Avatar?" she asked calmly and coldly. She flicked the strands aside and stared hard at the trembling Dai Li agent.

"Y-you said that if we-if we found any t-traces…" the agent mumbled, his voice failing.

"That you were to go after him!"

The Dai Li agent screamed, his body thrown backwards, and he slammed into one of the pillars in the room. Blue firelight disappeared as he slumped to the floor; the clothes on his chest smoldered. The other two Dai Li agents stood in place but they shook visibly as Azula stepped onto the floor and began to circle the other two.

"This is from the Avatar's pet. That means he's near…and so is the Earth King. I said if you found any trace of them, you were to go after them. I didn't say to run back here and tell me every little discovery you made. Do I really look like I have time for everything?"

"Princess, we believe-"

"No. I believe. Now go, and find those two fugitives. This time, I'll send some supervisors, people who don't need me to know what to do. Send for Mai and Ty-"

"I'll go with them."

Azula whirled around as Zuko stepped forward. The surprise quickly disappeared into a serious suspicious face. "What's that?"

"I _said_ I'll go with them. You asked if I was loyal. I am loyal. I'll go with the Dai Li agents to bring them back."

"Trying to prove yourself, are you Zuzu? You always do. You were never good enough, for Father or me. Very well, if you must. I'll give you another chance to prove yourself. But I will send some of my dearer men to keep watch."

Zuko twitched at the thought of needing eyes on his back.

"After all…you turned traitor once…and you still are, with that hair of yours…"

He frowned as Azula turned his back on her and started walking off to a side door, followed by two Dai Li agents, the same two who always followed her. He ran a hand through his hair, thinking about her words.

_I am loyal to the Fire Nation. Just because of my hair…_

He turned, watched the other two Dai Li agents drag off the third. He quickly descended the stairs and hurried over to them. "Where are you taking this man?"

One of them spoke stiffly. "Any agent she strikes is taken down to the prisons, to be questioned."

"What did he do wrong? All he did was-"

"Anyone who questions Princess Azula's orders is always questioned. Prince Zuko."

He stepped back as the two agents hoisted up the unconscious man and proceeded to the side door they came out of, the third man dragging between them. He hesitated, then stepped forward. "Wait. I'll come with you."

The two agents turned to him. "Princess Azula said you are forbidden from entering the prisons-"

"Just to the doors outside of prisons. I want to ask the other agents about these rules Azula put up."

"Are you questioning her-"

"No. I just want to know. I also want to know what you're planning for the Avatar."

The two agents looked at each other, then they nodded in unison. "Follow us, Prince Zuko. But don't tell Princess Azula-"

"I won't. You have my word."

That word being good enough, the two agents led Zuko out of the throne room and into the secret hallways crisscrossing all over the palace.

XXX

Ty Lee was literally bouncing off the walls when Azula stepped into her room. It was much smaller than many of the rooms opened to her in the palace, but Azula preferred the space. It made things easier for her; she always knew when someone was eavesdropping or of that spying sort.

Not that anyone would try to sneak up on her.

Mai was sitting on the edge of Azula's bed, one of her hands clenched into a fist.

"Ugh, will you please tell her to stop?" she asked. "I don't have my daggers with me and-"

"Ty Lee," Azula said and the acrobat was instantly on the floor, legs crossed. She looked up at Azula's face, hers wide-eyed and smiling a toothy grin.

"'Zula! How are things? I haven't seen you in years!"

"It's only been two days," Mai corrected, followed by rolling eyes.

"Sorry, Ty Lee. I had a city to run," Azula said, heading to the desk in the room. Opening a lacquered drawer, she began rummaging through the contents inside. She never had a proper chance to look at them. "Where is a brush, some ink, and paper when you need them…ah, here they are."

She pulled out said material, flattened the crumpled packet of paper, and uncorked the ink container.

"So…whatcha doin'?" Ty Lee asked excitedly, leaning over Azula's right shoulder.

"Are these orders?" Mai popped in on her left.

"Unfortunately, not for you," Azula said smoothly. Mai groaned, disappointed. "But I do have plans for you two."

"Hooray!" Ty Lee began bouncing off the walls again. Mai backed off and sat on the bed, sighing in relief. "Finally…"

"Father wants Uncle back home…I need you two to guard him while we send him down to the docks. Originally it was me and Zuzu, but Zuzu decided he needed to prove his honor, again, and I suddenly find myself busy," she said smoothly as she took a stamp from a bag sitting on the desk. She quickly inked it and slammed it down on the two papers. "Uncle is to stand for trials against the Fire Nation."

"Go figure," Mai said. "At least I can get out of this stuffy palace."

"But I like the palace!" the acrobat retorted. "Although…my aura's been off lately…maybe because everything's so green! 'Zula, can I redecorate the entire palace?"

Azula twitched at the very thought of the majestic Earth Kingdom palace painted entirely pink.

"Please say yes," Mai begged. "I can't stand her bouncing around my room…and it's bigger than yours-"

"If you have nothing else to do, Ty Lee," Azula said smoothly. If anything she needed to play fair with her two closest allies. Favoring one or none didn't sit well with someone who knew when she needed friends and when she didn't.

"Yay! My aura will be pink again!" The acrobat really began bouncing around. Azula quickly caught a vase she kicked off a small table as the acrobat cart-wheeled across Azula's bed. Mai groaned.

"Not again…"

The door knocked and Ty Lee immediately stopped with her antics. Flashing a look at her friends, Azula went to the door and opened it to a Dai Li agent, one of her two most loyal.

"Princess Azula," the man said with a short bow.

"What is it?" she asked calmly. At least she didn't have to call anyone to deliver these freshly-inked and stamped orders.

"Your-Prince Zuko has been spotted leaving the throne room with two of the agents from earlier in the day. He's headed to the prisons."

"I thought I ordered him away from them," she began coldly.

"We-we tried to keep him away, but he said he wanted to ask us…" the agent's voice began to fail as her frown grew more and more pronounced. "He said he just wanted to know…your rules. And our plans concerning the Avatar."

"Oh really?" she asked, a corner of her frown twitching upwards. "Well, in that case…keep an eye on him. If he so much as breathes into the actual prison…"

The Dai Li agent bowed swiftly.

"Oh, and your orders," she said, holding out two rolled-up papers. He took them. "Gather the Dai Li. This one is for all of them. This one…read it and you'll know what to do."

He nodded and vanished. Azula closed the door and sighed.

"'Zula, we need a girl's night out!" Ty Lee exclaimed in the midst of a headstand. Mai groaned again.

Azula smiled. Part of her brain was already working overtime with her plans, but another part did want to relax and soak in the incredible victory.

"I suppose. Let's go girls. Tonight…is _our_ night."

XXX

His eyes flit continuously to the closed and locked door. Beyond, he didn't know. He had never been into the dungeons of Ba Sing Se's palace, didn't know its layout. He didn't know how prisoners were treated. He didn't know where they were kept, how they were kept, what they were fed, whether or not they ever got a lungful of fresh air. He was barred from the dark secrets of these prisons.

"Prince Zuko, you are not allowed here."

"I know," he said coldly, glaring at the Dai Li agent who dared approach him. "You don't think I know that? Do you think I'm stupid? I know my orders."

"Then-then what are you doing here?"

Zuko turned to the agent completely and said calmly, his voice low, "I want to know the orders Azula gave to you."

"Sir?"

"I want to know what she expects of you," he clarified. That was partially true; he _did_ want to know how Azula treated these men. She convinced all the Dai Li agents against their former leader Long Feng, and every one of them obeyed her without a second thought. What rules did she set for them?

"Uh…"

"Never mind," Zuko said with a sigh. He turned and looked around the dark hall. Several agents were huddled around a makeshift table playing a game of cards. Two were standing guard at the door; within minutes they left their shift and two others came to stand with them. One of the agents handed a new arrival something that looked like a passable key. His eyes narrowed, then he caught a blue flash and turned back to the makeshift table.

"-show it to Princess Azula?"

"I bet you can get a better price at the black market than the reward for it!"

"We don't even know if the guy's dead yet!"

"So what? He can't do much without this mask!"

Mask? He approached the table just as one of the agents shot his arm up into the air, hand grasping a mask. He started waving it around; Zuko couldn't help but follow the mask as it waved from side to side.

"Spirits, this mask is in mass production! How do we tell who's the Blue Spirit and who's not? Let's just keep this mask. We'll find some way to prove that it's the real deal and show it to Princess Azula. By the Spirits, if Jeng said he found it at Lake Laogai, then that means the Blue Spirit drowned, or-"

"Let me see that mask."

The agents at the table whirled around and one fell right out of his chair. Zuko couldn't help but smirk at the man as he approached. "I said, let me see that mask."

"S-sir?"

"He said he wants to see the mask! Give it to him Dao!" one of the agents snapped. "I can't believe nobody warned us that he was here!"

Zuko clenched his fists but said nothing, only loosened one hand to accept the mask. It felt strange to him, staring at the Blue Spirit, knowing it was no longer a part of him. And yet a part of him was itching to be that thief again, that rogue, that enemy of the Fire Nation-

_No, I am a part of the Fire Nation, I am _Prince_ of the Fire Nation! I will not turn on my nation again! Not again, never!_

"Prince Zuko, the mask."

He looked up quickly, annoyed that his thoughts were disrupted, then settled at the questioning look on the Dai Li agent's face. Dao, was it?

"Here. I suggest you hold it for a while; you can't prove the Blue Spirit's dead if this mask _is_ in mass production," he said stiffly, practically shoving it back into the man's hands. He turned to leave, then stopped when he saw a handful of agents making a beeline for the prison door. They were all holding trays of what looked like food.

"...for that old man. You know her orders."

_Uncle!_

The agent was addressing a man carrying a tray of only a cup of water and a bowl of rice. Zuko raised his right eyebrow at this, noting the ample food piled on the other trays. What was Azula doing to Uncle? He approached the agent and asked.

"Princess Azula ordered that the old man be denied simple comforts."

"My uncle doesn't need much to be comfortable," he said, feeling a sudden pride in Uncle's humility. That pride went downhill when one of the two agents at the door went and dumped the bowl of rice on the ground. Zuko stared and so did the agent holding the tray.

"Princess Azula's orders are orders. If even these leftovers make the old man comfortable, then don't give them to him."

He fought himself, then whirled on his heels and began to storm off and away from the dungeons. Then he realized that since the other agents knew he was down here, he had to give them a good reason not to go run off to Azula.

"Wait…" He turned on his heels again and found all eyes on him. All the Dai Li Agents were gaping at him, befuddled, bemused. He glared down the nearest agent, one of the two who had carried the third down here. "What are you planning to do with the Avatar?"

"The clump of fur tells us they're not far from Ba Sing Se," the man replied. "We leave in two days."

"Why not tomorrow?"

It was another agent that answered. "Azula's orders. She has plans for tonight and tomorrow night."

XXX

"Princess Azula, I'm not sure-"

"Are you questioning my decision, Long Feng? Because the last time I checked, I didn't ask for your opinion in this matter," she said, observing her recently filed nails. She made a mental note to congratulate Ty Lee on such a fine job cleaning her and Mai's nails. "I only asked that you prepare well for tomorrow night."

"My mistake, Princess Azula," Long Feng said stiffly and with a bow. "I was only worried for your safety."

"My safety?"

"Yes. Most of Ba Sing Se is still confused over the recent events. It has not been easy restoring peace, not like it used to be-"

"I don't need your success stories, Long Feng. These people need to know who rules them now." She raised her index and middle finger, and smiled as she lit the tips with hot blue fire. Long Feng's face was impassive, but she knew him too well. "You are to prepare for the ceremony. I _am_ Ba Sing Se's new ruler, and everyone will find out by the end of tomorrow."

**XXX**

Author's Endnote: Reviews of all sorts are appreciated.

I love Azula. She's so…intriguing. But I love her brother more, and I'm not a psycho fangirl. You'll have to look elsewhere.


	3. Setbacks

Author's Note: I know the premises of this chapter has been done before, again and again and again. In fact, **_I_** got sick of it. But I felt I had no choice but to use this. Somehow, it just makes the plot work so much better.

I think I've been watching too much _Bullshit._ Brilliant.

**XXX**

**Break the Chain**

**«3 – Setbacks»**

"Ah…now that was a good nap," Sokka declared as soon as his eyelids opened. He blinked several times to sharpen the fuzzy world, then slowly sat up. Toph was sitting closest to the ashes, slumped over Aang, who didn't seem to have wakened at all. Next to him the Earth King was leaning against a scraggly tree, drool coming out of the corner of his mouth. Bosco was across the clearing, halfway up a tree. Squirrels were on the ground chittering angrily at the bear. Nuts and such were falling and hitting the squirrels as Bosco looted their cache.

"W-what? What's that?" the Earth King mumbled. His spectacles were literally dangling off his nose. He tilted his head, snorted, then kept sleeping.

"Morning, Snoozles," Toph yawned, sitting up straight and leaning back slightly. She stretched her arms out, then collapsed on her back. She took several deep breaths. "It's a warm morning." Then she sat up. "Why are you up so early?"

"I am?" Sokka looked around, then realized that it was indeed very early in the morning, if not the break of dawn. "I-I don't know…that's strange."

"For you, maybe," Toph snorted, then bent over Aang. Sokka watched her caress his face. "He's still asleep, isn't he?"

"You tell me," the Water Tribe teenager said as he pushed himself up onto his feet. He stretched his limbs, kicked at the ashes of the small campfire, then strode over to the Earth King and shook him gently. "Your Kingliness, Your Majesty, it's morning. We need to get moving."

"Nuh-huh…" was the sleepy reply. Sokka scowled.

"Maybe I should call _him_ Snoozles."

"He's the Earth King. You don't call the Earth King 'Snoozles'."

"So you like your nickname."

"No, I don't. But just drop it, okay? C'mon, get Bosco while I wake the Earth King up; we have to get moving. This forest isn't safe."

"I can't, _Snoozles_. Twinkle Toes is still sleeping."

Sokka sighed. "Okay…Your Kingliness, can you go get Bosco? We have to get out of here and-"

"Nuh-huh…"

Sokka twitched, then let loose a cry of anguish.

"Wow, this early in the morning? Snoozles, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"

Sokka glared at the tiny earthbender. "If you hadn't noticed, Toph, there are no beds here. There haven't been any beds here for a while, because WE'RE NOT IN BA SING SE ANYMORE!"

A flock of birds rose from the treetops and flew away from his voice. Toph winced, Bosco moaned, Appa groaned, and the Earth King sat up quickly. "No, I won't do it!"

Sokka stared at the man. "Won't do what?"

"I-uh-oh…uh…nothing, nothing really…"

Appa groaned again and shifted on his feet. Sokka glared at the bison. "Someone's cheerful this morning."

The bison swung his head to the Water Tribe teenager and lowed somewhat impatiently. Toph narrowed her eyebrows as Sokka said, "Okay, fine, so I did wake up on the wrong side of the…dirt. What's your problem, you big foofy monster? Didn't you get all the sleep you need?"

Appa complained again, this time accompanied by a huff. Sokka went tumbling several feet and landed on his rear. "Ow…I think that was my tailbone…"

"Appa, what's wrong?" Toph asked worriedly. "Is it Sugar Queen?"

"Who's Sugar Queen?"

"That would be my sister…Your Ki-Majesty," Sokka said. "Katara? You awake?"

Silence. Sokka looked at Toph, who was staring straight ahead at Appa. He looked back up to the bison's back. "Katara? Katara! Katara, answer me! Katara!"

No answer.

"Sokka, I think you should check up on her. Something's not right-"

"Of course something's not right!" Sokka snapped. Katara wasn't answering back, and that was starting to worry him.

He dashed over to Appa's side and began climbing, using clumps of Appa's fur to hoist himself up every few inches. The bison roared at each tug. Toph sighed, then sent a platform up. Sokka yelped as he was caught unawares and was tossed unceremoniously onto Appa's back. He got up on his knees, then crawled over to his younger sister's sleeping form. She lay curled up, her hands clenching at Appa's fur. He leaned close and suddenly noticed her skin was shiny, coated with…sweat.

"Katara? Katara, are you-oh no," he whispered, noticing her shiver violently. It wasn't a particularly cold morning either. He touched her forehead. "Ow!"

"What happened?" Toph yelled up.

"We have to get out of here!" Sokka shrieked, throwing half of his body over the side and looking down at the others. His eyes darted wildly from Toph, who was stroking Aang's shoulder, to the Earth King, who was tugging on one of Bosco's hind legs. "Katara's sick; we need a healer! Any healer! Any healer from any village! We need a healer!"

"Didn't _we_ have a healer-" the Earth King began.

"_That_ would be my sister," Sokka explained flatly while Toph slid out from under Aang's head. "And she's very, very sick. Things aren't that great when the only healer around is sick. She's got a fever and we need a healer!"

An earthen platform rose up next to him, then tilted on its side and dumped Aang's limp body on Sokka's back. Then the Earth King and Bosco. Toph tipped herself gracefully somewhere closer to Appa's head. "You're in charge now, Snoozles. Where's Katara?"

"For once she's not Sugar Queen," Sokka stated, his face buried in Appa's back. "Get off! We have to get out of here; I need to find a healer for my sister!"

He shoved off the three bodies on his back and crawled over to Appa's head. He turned back and saw Toph kneeling next to Katara. The younger girl touched his sister's forehead but withdrew quickly. "Sokka, she's burning up!"

"Like I didn't know that!" Sokka snapped furiously, then grabbed Appa's reins. _And suddenly I'm Sokka again. What is up with her? _"Your Majesty, know any villages around here?"

Silence.

"I've never camped out in a forest before-"

"I'll take that as a 'no'. Yip, yip, Appa!"

XXX

She finally understood as she stood with her mother, and a good handful of others she knew from her apartment, in the very _center_ of Ba Sing Se. Never before had the palace been opened to the public, never before were the lower classes allowed to pass through the walls that divided them from the middle and upper classes. Never before was just about anyone allowed to enter the palace itself, the Earth King's palace.

No, no longer the Earth King's palace. The Earth King didn't rule anymore. That much was made definably clear when a very young woman – her age? – stepped out onto the terrace to address the multitudes. Jin shivered. The woman looked so _cold_. She couldn't see much of her face, but the aura was there. And the way she carried herself, proud, precise purposefully, was frightening, and so demanding of her attention. In fact, all eyes were on her as she approached the balcony edge of the terrace.

What was quite peculiar about this woman, besides the air, was the color she wore. Her dress was the traditional browns, greens, and yellows found in Ba Sing Se and perhaps beyond, but she wore something red in her hair. And her hair was pulled back in what looked like a topknot. Bizarre.

Then Jin, and most of the people from the lower rings, gasped as Long Feng, the infamous leader of the Dai Li, stepped forward to the woman's left and introduced her as _Fire Nation Princess Azula_.

"…the Fire Nation is here…"

"…the Earth Kingdom…"

"…she's here…."

Murmurs rippled through the back of the masses, but the richly dressed men and women standing near the front said nothing as the princess of a foreign nation slowly turned her head from side to side. Jin shivered as the face turned in her direction; she couldn't see anything definable but she felt eyes piercing her.

"I…am your most humble servant, people of Ba Sing Se," Princess Azula said. Jin shivered again; the princess's voice was so frightening, as cold and precise as her aura and stance. "I am here only to serve your best interests…and I am serving them now. I am sure you have heard in the past few weeks that outside these great walls of Ba Sing Se, a war rages. People out there suffer daily as the war destroys their homes, their villages, and their lives. But here you are safe. As long as I rule Ba Sing Se, you will not fear this war, and you will not suffer from this war. Even the refugees who come to Ba Sing Se almost daily will be safe. That, I can promise you.

"I understand that recent events have come to your attention, such as the presence of the Avatar. He brings disturbance wherever he goes, attracts attention and trouble. He has brought that into your city, and I understand that you don't like it. You don't like _him_. Make note: he is no longer a source of trouble. The Dai Li, Long Feng, and I have seen to that.

"Anyone harboring the Avatar's friends is a danger to Ba Sing Se, a traitor. His friends and companions include siblings from the Southern Water Tribe, a girl reportedly from the Bei Fong family, a lemur, and a flying bison. If you know anyone who is sheltering any of these _fugitives_, report to the Dai Li immediately. You may be handsomely rewarded for protecting Ba Sing Se from danger.

"Tonight…is your night. Beginning tonight, you will no longer fear, no longer worry, no longer think of danger, any danger, whatsoever. Tonight…"

Jin couldn't help it; her ears closed off to the woman's voice as she noticed the shadowed person standing at and behind Princess Azula's left hand. Unlike Princess Azula and Long Feng, this person kept to the shelter of the curving roof, hiding from the sun and the people. She narrowed her eyes slightly; the figure was tall and strangely familiar.

"…and my brother Fire Nation Prince Zuko will put these rumors and reports to rest, and anyone spreading them will be punished…"

As if on cue, the person stepped out into the light.

She paled. She felt faint, blood rushing out of her head as the man at Princess Azula's left side slowly turned his head from right to left. Even from this distance she could see the characteristic red scar on the left side of his face. And she wasn't alone; whispers exploded on all sides, people from her area murmuring about a similar mark seen on a young man named Lee, who worked with his uncle Mushi in the rundown but now popular tea shop that she used to frequent. Several people up front, in their fanciful silks and hairdos, started talking as well. Word trickled down, something about a young tea server with a scar on his face who worked in his uncle's brand new tea shop. The duo had been summoned to the palace by order of the Earth King days ago, and never came back. And now…and now this…this couldn't be happening…Jin had seen refugees with burns on them before, burns they refused to talk about or contributed to accidents that would've never given them the scars, but no one could imitate that disfiguring mark…

"Jin, are you alright?" her mother asked worriedly. She turned to her mother, her eyes wide and shining.

"I-I-I know him…I know him, Mom, but…" She turned to the man whose hand rested on the swords at his side, who stepped back into the shadows to let Princess Azula take center stage. "But…he said his name was Lee…"

"Lee? You mean that boy who worked in the tea shop…"

"Yes…" Jin confirmed slowly, tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. She sniffed. "Yes, that's the one, Mom. He's the one…"

Now she knew why he ran away after she kissed him. Now she knew why he had been acting the way he did, from the moment she saw him to the seconds before he pulled away and dashed off in the night. He was Zuko, Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, the brother of this young woman who now ruled Ba Sing Se.

And she kissed him!

XXX

Zuko sat in his room, cross-legged on the floor, trying has hard as he might to meditate in front of a hodgepodge of lit candles. Every now and then his forehead wrinkled with exertion as he tried to focus on his breathing and calm himself, empty his mind.

The Blue Spirit mask.

"_My uncle doesn't need much to be comfortable."_

"_Princess Azula's orders are orders. If even these leftovers make the old man comfortable, then don't give them to him."_

The candle lights flared as he remembered the Dai Li agent tossing the rice bowl to the floor. Comfort was one thing, but to starve an old man…and not just any old man but his _uncle_!

"_Did you listen to Azula? Father's realized how important family is to him. He cares about me!"_

"I_ care about you. And if Ozai wants you back, well, I think it may not be for the reasons you imagine."_

"_You don't know how my father feels about me. You don't know anything!"_

"_Zuko, I only meant that in our family, things are not always what they seem."_

"_I think that you are exactly what you seem: a lazy, mistrustful, shallow old man who's always been jealous of his brother!"_

He winced at the harsh words, couldn't believe he still remembered every single syllable. But when he thought about it some more, the circumstances under which this conversation took place, he suddenly understood why. It was an issue he had been avoiding adamantly ever since his sister and he took over Ba Sing Se. Until he decided to follow the Dai LI agents down to the dungeons, he tried to avoid thinking about Uncle.

But now, in the solitude of his room, the grand event of the day over, he couldn't stop thinking about the old man who had stood by his side since his banishment from the Fire Nation.

_Uncle? Uncle, what have I done? Have I…have I made the right choice? I-I know I did; I'm part of the Fire Nation and even if it's my sister, I have to stand by her. She restored my -no, _I _restored my honor. She helped me restore my honor. Not you. Not anybody else._

Why did that seem so wrong? He clenched his fist and then heard a pop; he opened an eye and saw a candle had gone out.

_My honor. You know what honor means to me; once I have it back, I can go home. Avatar or no Avatar…_

Was it honorable to turn on his uncle? He grimaced and heard another pop. Another candle had gone out. He closed his eyes tightly, felt the skin stretch as he tried desperately to slip back into the meditative calm he was in just minutes ago.

"_It's time for you to look inward and start asking yourself the big question: who are you and what do _YOU_ want?"_

"I know what I want," he whispered, his voice shaky but calm. Too late; he could feel the heat building up inside him. "I know what I want, and what I want is my honor, my country, my throne. I know what I want and I got what I want. That's all that matters."

_But what am I?_

That jarring question was followed by a succession of pops. Half the candles had gone out. Zuko opened his eyes and stared at the remaining candles. They were lit but they were burning unnaturally bright. He glared at them and one instantly vanished in smoke and ashes.

"I know what I am," he said softly, his eyes fixed on the soft orange-yellow glow of the lit candles. "My name is Prince Zuko, son of Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai, and I am heir to the Fire Nation-"

"_You're a terrible person, you know that? Always following us, hunting the Avatar, trying to capture the world's last hope for peace. But what do you care. You're the Fire Lord's son. Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your blood."_

"It is not," he hissed at the accusation. "It is NOT. I'm not just the Fire Lord's son…I'm my mother's…Mom…Mom…"

He closed his eyes tightly but it was too late; he felt a single tear slide down the side of his face, the side scarred forever.

_Mom, what do I do? Now I…now I need you, more than ever. What do I do? Was I really right…to betray Uncle like that? Is honor really worth that? What-what have I done?_

"…what have I done?"

All the candles went out as he doubled over, forehead pressing the wood panels. He felt another tear but didn't have enough pride, enough shame, to hold it back, to hold them all back. He felt the heat inside him grow, and saw a firestorm in his mind. He saw his mother hugging him and laughing, his cousin Lu Ten before he departed to fight in a war that killed him, his grandfather verbally throw him aside that day in the throne room, his prodigy of a sister smirking darkly at some terrible secret, his father stand before him at the Agni Kai all those years ago, his uncle stand by him as they sailed all over the world in search of the Avatar, saw the Avatar sadly asking him an impossible question, the wanted posters of his alter ego the Blue Spirit all over the Earth Kingdom, the sadness in Song's face as they talked the scars the Fire Nation left behind on them, Li's carefree grin as he yapped cheerfully about his family's farm and his older brother, the look of utter hatred on Jet's face as they fought outside that miserable tea shop in Ba Sing Se, the loving smile on Jin's face that one night he went out with her, the Avatar's flying bison miserably languishing in the Dai Li's underground headquarters, the waterbending peasant girl as she cried about how the Fire Nation took her mother away from her…just like they did to him…

How many more people were scarred by the Fire Nation's century-old war? How many more suffered, lost their loved ones, thought about dwindling hope, about the future?

So much, so much, too much, it was all too much, all this confusion, this loss of direction, loss of destiny…he didn't know, he didn't know…

"_You're not the man you used to be, Zuko. You are stronger, and wiser, and freer than you have _ever_ been. And now you have come to the crossroads of your destiny. It's time for you to choose. It's time for you to choose…good."_

"_I need you, Zuko. I've plotted every move of this day, this glorious day in Fire Nation history, and the only way we win is together. At the end of this day, you will have your honor back. You will have Father's love. You will have everything you want."_

"_You have no idea what this war has put ME through, me personally. The Fire Nation took my mother away from me."_

"_I hate you!"_

"_The Fire Nation has hurt you…it's okay. They hurt me, too."_

"_You _will_ learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher."_

"_Zuko, please my love, listen to me. Everything I've done, I've done to protect you. Remember this, Zuko. No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are."_

"_Do you know what's the worst part of being born over a hundred years ago is? I miss all the friends I used to hang out with. Before the war started, I used to always visit my friend Kuzon. The two of us, we get in and out of _so_ much trouble together. He was one of the best friends I ever had, and he was from the Fire Nation, just like you. If we met each other back then, do you think we could have been friends, too?"_

"AUGH!"

The room lit up as Zuko slammed a flaming fist into the floor. He breathed heavily, steam swirling out of his mouth and nostrils, then he crumpled into a pathetic heap, curling up in a ball, unable to hold back his tears anymore.

No more…no more…no more…

"No more! Please, no more…stop it…stop talking to me! STOP IT!"

The two Dai Li agents posted outside his room shrank back at the tongues of bright orange fire licking at their boots from under the door. The servants in the hallway froze, looked at each other, and fled.

XXX

"Look, all we want is to see a healer, okay? So can you _please_, pretty please, remove that rock from my throat?"

"How do we know it's just a healer you want? What if you're spies from the Fire Nation?"

"Fire Nation spies don't wear 'blue', you big blockhead! Now quit it; our friends' sick and we want to see a healer!"

"Toph?" Sokka hissed out of the corner of his mouth. "Can't you-"

"We're too close to the village," the short girl replied, shaking her head. "If I bend here, I could flatten half the village."

"Ah…right…that's definitely not what we want-"

"Hey, wait, you-you're-you're-"

"The Water Tribe boy? The Avatar's companion? Sokka the Water Tribe Warrior? Yep, that's me," he filled in smugly.

"Your Majesty!"

Sokka's jaw dropped open. The fourteen men surrounding him, Toph, Aang, Katara, the Earth King, Bosco, Momo, and Appa dropped flat on their faces, prostrating themselves at the Earth King's feet, as did the rock levitating against Sokka's neck. Frankly, the man honored by this display of loyalty was shocked.

"O-oh, uh…um…yes?"

"He really doesn't know what he can do, can he?" Toph muttered to Sokka, who was trying not to beat himself for labeling himself in so many different ways out loud like that.

"Your Majesty, we are your most humble servants! Your slaves! Your every word is our command!" the burliest man of the group declared, his heavy voice slightly muffled by the dirt he was yelling into.

"Oh…I see…" the Earth King said uncertainly, suddenly unsure with his newfound power. "Very well…our friend Katara needs a healer."

"As you wish, Your Majesty," the massive man said, rising on his knees. He gestured to the faint glow in the trees. "Sen, Gohrun, lead His Majesty and his friends to the village. The rest of us will continue scouting."

Two other men rose to their feet, bowed briefly to the first man, then deeply to the Earth King. "Right this way, Your Majesty."

The Earth King looked over his shoulder at the others, uncertain, but Sokka nodded. He shifted the weight of his sister's body in his arms for some emphasis and the Earth King immediately got the message. Appa groaned loudly as he followed the Earth King, Sokka, Katara, and Toph; his every step was carefully placed to make sure Aang didn't slide off his back. Momo flew on ahead, chirping.

The village was small and makeshift, easily built up and easily dissembled. The only permanent structures were the fire pits and the walls made of stone and wood that surrounded the village. The Earth King looked around as Sen and Gohrun guided him and the others into the village; the few men he saw were either too young or too old. The children looked up at him mournfully and the women, young and old, looked haggard as they went about tending to an early dinner, their children, injured men, and other chores. The smell of cooking food mingled with sweat and the raw earth,

"Your Majesty." A very elderly woman approached. The wrinkles on her face nearly hid her eyes from the world but she didn't seem blind at all. Her frail frame bowed then she straightened her back and slid her arms into the folds of her ragged brown dress. "I am the healer of this village. My name is Yun La. How may I assist you?"

"My friend Katara is very ill," he replied smoothly, pushing his smudged spectacles up his nose. He gestured to the unconscious shivering girl in Sokka's arms. "We were wondering if you can help us."

"Right this way," Yun La said, gesturing to a hut of sticks and mud. Sokka raised an eyebrow at this; he didn't plan for his sister to stay in such a shabby shelter. Toph marched up to his side and hissed, "Well?"

"Right, right," he muttered, and quickly followed the old woman, who moved remarkably fast for her appearance. In the meantime other elderly women approached the Earth King, Toph, Appa, and Momo. The children had shrunken back from the massive air bison but he ignored their open stares.

"Your Majesty, you must be tired. We're clearing out several of our huts for you and your companions-"

"No, it's alright. You don't need to fuss over this," the Earth King said calmly, although his smile spoke endless thanks. "We only need two. And a place for the bison here."

Appa groaned, then lay down on the ground. Bosco made a noise as Aang slid down the side and onto him. Several people gasped as Toph ran over to the airbender. He moaned, sighed softly, and fell silent.

"The Avatar," one of the old women whispered. "Never in my life…"

"He's been gravely injured," the Earth King said softly, sadly. "The sick girl healed him, but I'm afraid that's what made her sick as well. It took all her power to make sure he…he lived."

"We heard of the battle," one of the braver children spoke up. He was a scraggly kid, all skin and bones. His dark brown hair jutted out at bizarre angles. "Everybody did. The news traveled fast. We have a-"

"Yuan!" one of the younger women snapped; she had been busy scaling one of four fishes in a woven basket. She pulled back a strand of dark hair as the boy turned. "But-"

"Not another word. Now go find Cousin Fei and help him."

"But he said-"

"Don't bother the Earth King or the Avatar. They are very tired and need their rest. Understand?"

The Earth King allowed himself a small smile as the boy sighed. "Yes, Mom."

One of the elder women cleared her throat softly. "Your Majesty, this way. Yun La will attend to him as soon as she finishes with the girl."

"He's fine," Toph spoke up. "He just needs-"

"We know what happened, young one. You and your friends did all they could. Some rest and experienced hands will do the rest for the young Avatar. You need rest, too."

"I slept just fine," Toph said. She frowned as a middle-aged woman carefully lifted up the airbender in her arms.

"You have been through much hardship, Toph Bei Fong," another old woman spoke up. She gasped at the use of her whole name. "We know what happened. Rest here, before resuming your journey. You will be here for a time while your two friends heal."

"Sigh…I guess…" Toph said, admitting defeat. The old woman smiled, then gestured. The smile became a bit stilted when Toph asked, "So, where's the hut?"

"Uh…right this way…" The old woman shuffled off, Toph at her heels. The Earth King watched her go, then turned to the woman holding Aang in her arms.

"This way, Your Majesty."

The hut was small but not cramped; there were three cots made of hastily-chopped wood and worn cotton, with a folded pile of the same material at the foot of each cot. A small fire burned in the center, in a pit in the earth. There were a few earthen platforms around the walls to serve as tables.

The middle-aged woman gently lay Aang down in one of them, and the young boy sighed and curled up on his left side. The woman smiled sadly and pulled the thin cotton blanket over him. She turned to the Earth King, bowed, and left the hut.

He sighed and took his spectacles off his nose. He wiped at the dirty lenses with his robes, apparently not noticing that his soiled clothes weren't cleaning the lenses at all. He slid them back on his nose and took in his surroundings. They were _nothing_ like the palace back at Ba Sing Se.

He sighed again and sat down on another cot. Within minutes he was on his side, snoring softly. A day of wandering through an unfamiliar forest without much food, two sick people, and heightened paranoia was quite tiring.

xxx

It was late at night when Yun La let Sokka see Katara. She beckoned to him as he sat, glaring at the small fire burning in one of the several pits in the village. He jumped to his feet, snatched up his boomerang, and hurried over to the healer's hut. The old woman frowned at the weapon but said nothing as she stepped inside. Sokka followed, so closely he was practically breathing down the old woman's neck.

"Is my sister okay? Do you know what's wrong with her? Why's she sick? Did this have anything to do with her healing Aang? Will she-"

"Be quiet!" Yun La snapped. "Your sister is still very ill. I did all I could. All we can do now is wait…and see…"

"What! What do you mean, she's still very ill? She can't be! She's my sister!"

"Young man, be quiet!" Yun La said sharply, gesturing to the cot behind her.

His voice caught in his throat. Sokka stared at his sister, saw how she breathed heavily. Sweat rolled off her tanned forehead in beads and from time to time a weak sound emitted from her open mouth.

"K-Katara?" he whispered, his voice shaking. He staggered over to the cot, fell to his knees. "Katara?"

For the first time in his life it really hit him how vulnerable his younger sister really was. She had always been the strong one, the steady one, the one who kept him in line, who made sure his head didn't wander, and now-now she…here she was…

"I'm sorry, Katara," he whispered, brushing the back of his finger against her cheek. She was still burning. "I'm sorry, for everything. For everything I did. For-"

"It is not your fault," Yun La spoke quietly, "though I rather expected this from someone like you. Having a loved one fall ill tends to make you a bit more open…about the fault of your ways-"

"I didn't ask for your opinion!" Sokka snapped, his temper flaring, getting the best of him. "Just-just-argh!"

He slammed his fist down on the ground. "I feel so useless! Sokka the Water Tribe boy, Sokka the warrior, Sokka the Avatar's companion, Sokka the only one who can't bend! I was always the one going off on stupid adventures, I was the one who got stuck in that hole for the whole day with Foo-Foo Cuddly-Poops and made her worry like-like crazy. I was the one who decided to drink that cactus juice. I was the one who…couldn't save…protect…Yue…and-and Suki…and Mom…"

Yun La sighed while the teenager started sobbing.

"…and under Ba Sing Se…couldn't save her…or Aang…when that-that Fire Nation _witch_ blasted a hole in his back…"

Yun La sighed again and decided it was best if she left the young man to his tears. The girl wasn't going to wake up anytime soon, anyways, so why not let him pour his heart out? He had been through more than enough, and it was time for him to take it out on anyone and anything, even if it was himself. She'll save explaining Katara's illness for another night,

Yun La quickly ducked into the neighboring hut to check one of her other foreign patients, then left to attend to the Avatar.

XXX

He could feel eyes burning into him but ignored them steadily, stubbornly, as he poked at his food with his chopsticks. Everybody else had long since finished the main course and was now on dessert but he was reluctant to put any more food in his mouth. He was also reduced to drinking water; he was never one for liquor and the mere scent of tea practically overturned his stomach. It took all his willpower not to upchuck the first course all over the table.

Zuko looked up to see Azula's eyes wander to a government official and his wife sitting near where she was standing. Both were visibly shaking, the wife very pale, and she turned even whiter as Azula bent over and said something very quiet to her. The woman looked like she was going to faint.

"This is boring," Mai muttered under her breath.

The spirits, Zuko decided privately, must have a sick humor to place him at the end of the table with Mai on his right side. He had no idea if the girl had gotten over her crush and didn't want to find out anytime soon. He didn't need one more thing cluttering his mind.

"_Aw, they're so cute together."_

"_You two are such…ugh!"_

"_Uncle Iroh has sent us a message from the war front…you're soaking wet."_

"_Girls are crazy!"_

"…Zuko, are you gonna eat that?" Ty Lee chirped, suddenly popping in on his left side. He yelped and nearly fell out of his chair but caught himself quickly. He cursed himself for being so high-strung tonight, then nodded mutely. Ty Lee grinned and whisked the plate away.

"Dessert, Your Highness?" a servant asked. Where did he come from?

"No!"

The man retreated swiftly. Zuko smiled smugly, then winced as the pulsing in his mind fluctuated powerfully. He rubbed at his head, then sighed. The headache just wouldn't go away. It came not long after a Dai Li agent tentatively knocked on his door three hours ago, asking if everything was okay. The Dai Li agent then proceeded to _open_ the door to make sure he really was fine.

That agent was lucky Zuko wasn't aiming. The fireball went flying past the Dai Li agent's shoulder and the door had shut quickly. That was when the headache came, a dull pounding that was growing steadily stronger with each passing hour. Zuko felt the need to burn something, anything, just to make it go away.

"Zuzu, are you feeling alright? You should eat; you have a long day tomorrow. Or did you forget you were watching the Dai Li for me?"

Azula.

"I'm fine."

She smiled but it wasn't genuine. "You're lying. You were never very good at lying, you know. You were much too honest. Just like Mother."

He gripped at the tablecloth, sensed Mai leaning away from him. He was starting to feel uncomfortably hot but knew he was just losing his temper again.

"What do you want now?" he asked.

"I was just wondering if something was bothering you. You haven't gotten up at least once since dinner began. You should walk around, get friendly with some of Ba Sing Se's most powerful men. They could help you one day. You'll never know."

She smiled, turned, made to walk off to mingle in with the nervous men and their wives. Zuko relaxed, then tensed again as Azula whirled around and leaned into his face. He shrank back while the headache became nearly unbearable.

"I know you're still having trouble dealing with this…transition, Zuko." She wasn't using his nickname for once. "I have eyes and ears everywhere here. I think it would be best if you left with the Dai Li agents. Who knows what kind of fit you'll throw being in the same city as Uncle."

His teeth clenched but he held his temper in as Azula smirked.

"Get over him, Zuzu. He's a traitor, and traitors are dead to the Fire Nation."

She turned.

"He's _not_ a traitor."

Half the room fell silent. Azula frowned, then turned around to Zuko. "What did you say?"

"I said, he's _not_ a traitor. Uncle isn't a traitor."

He was on his feet, the chair shoved back several feet. He felt sweat roll down the side of his face. The air was horridly hot.

"Really? And why's that?" Azula asked, her voice going emotionless, cold.

The entire room and all its occupants were now silent, staring, listening to the two siblings. More than half of them were nodding and affirming what they thought was going on: an argument between two power-hungry royal siblings.

"He…he…"

Suddenly her face blurred and in her place he thought he saw…Mom?

"What were you saying, Zuzu?"

No, it was Azula. But-wasn't that…

The world swayed and he staggered to the side. Zuko shook his head and the world cleared again. "Uncle is _not_ a traitor, Azula. He's been nothing but loyal to the Fire Nation since he was born!"

"He fought Admiral Zhao back at the North Pole, if the reports are correct. He gave up the siege of Ba Sing Se when Lu Ten died instead of pressing on. He traveled with you for two years instead of staying home and helping Father conquer the world. And in the end…he helped the Avatar. Anyone who helps the Avatar is an enemy and traitor, Zuko. Don't you think?"

"Uncle believed in the balance. That's why he fought Zhao-"

"You're spent too much time with Uncle. It's time to cast him aside, Zuko, and turn to the ones who really care about you and the Fire Nation. He may have "cared" for you but not the Fire Nation. But I know you care about the Fire Nation. Isn't that why you chose to side with me? Why defend a traitor, Zuko? That is dishonorable and you know that. So why defend him? Why?"

Azula had gone from accusing to seducing in the blink of an eye. He hesitated, unsure of whether or not what she said was right. Well Uncle technically was a traitor to the Fire Nation…but he was right when he attacked Admiral Zhao, wasn't he? And-and all those other times…if it weren't for Uncle, Zuko wouldn't have survived his exile with his sanity intact.

"I_ care about you. And if Ozai wants you back, well, I think it may not be for the reasons you imagine."_

The voices were back. Uncle's voice, angry that he was so hopeful of his Father's love. Restored honor. His throne. The respect of the Fire Nation.

"_I know what you're thinking. We've all been through it. The Fire Nation has hurt you…it's okay. They hurt me, too."_

Song. She was burned by the Fire Nation, scarred for life like he was. His nation had done this to them both. Maybe he deserved it…but what did Song do?

"_I hate you!"_

The Fire Nation had taken both his father and older brother from Li. Of course he'd hate Zuko. Zuko was the Fire Lord's son, and all of the Fire Lord's destructive decisions carried on his shoulders.

"_If we met each other back then, do you think we could have been friends, too?"_

He had turned traitor himself, had become the Blue Spirit to get the Avatar away from Admiral Zhao. Who was traitor now? Who was the real traitor? Who had the real honor?

The air was becoming utterly stifling and objects were starting to blur into each other, slide out of focus.

"_Zuko, please my love, listen to me. Everything I've done I've done to protect you. Remember this, Zuko. No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are."_

Mother had the real honor. She protected him, when he needed it most.

"M-Mom," he whispered, his voice hoarse.

The feeling of weakness was familiar…

"_It's time for you to look inward and start asking yourself the big question: who are you and what do YOU want?"_

If he wanted his honor and home so badly, why was he protecting Uncle so openly in Azula's face? Azula still had the power; who was he to confront her like that?

Zuko staggered, leaned heavily against the table, whispers around him like the buzz of a million flies.

Why was he protecting Uncle? What was it that was telling him to? It was telling him something, he knew it. He was sure of it! But what was it?

He was starting to feel very faint, the pounding in his head escalating beyond tolerance. He staggered away from the table and the people surrounding him backed away to give him room. Azula stood there, rooted to the spot, for once with a look of shock on her face.

His faith in his honor, in Azula's promise, in Father's words, in the Fire Nation, they were all shaking, ready to collapse. Just one nudge, one push in the right direction…

"_I thought you had changed!"_

He snapped.

"I HAD changed!" he shouted. The faces were spinning around him, the voices accusing. "I HAD changed! I told you already, I changed! Stop it! Stop it!"

He was sinking, falling, the darkness rushing up to meet him…

xxx

Azula frowned as the palace healers carried her older brother away. He was mumbling, shaking, perspiring as though he had a fever-he had a fever and, as one of the healers meekly declared, a very serious one. If they didn't attend to it immediately, he might as well literally fry his brain.

Azula wouldn't have minded that. But, to protect her image, she decided to have him healed as best as possible with the best of resources. She still needed someone watching over the Dai Li agents, and Zuko was the perfect candidate. Just not for the reasons most people thought he was.

Oh no, Azula had different plans for him. He just needed to get better. That was all.

"Long Feng," she said quietly, calling to her side her right-hand man. "Tell the Dai Li not to leave for a few days. I want my brother well before they go find the Avatar and his friends."

He looked at her quizzically, frowned slightly, but nodded.

"And no sudden moves, Long Feng. My eyes are on you."

He narrowed his eyes but said nothing. For Azula, that was enough. Silence was everything.

"Dinner, it seems, is over."

Mai sighed in relief while Ty Lee whined over Zuko's untouched dish.

**XXX**

Author's Endnote: Same old, same old, isn't it? But look at it this way: Aang's sick, too! Ha!

These chapters are getting longer and longer. Who here doesn't like long chapters?


	4. A Turn of Events

Author's Note: I should let you know that the material that's going up hasn't been beta-d, so there's bound to be a flurry of mistakes. A PM would be greatly appreciated so I can fix them.

An Author's note is the author's thoughts on this chapter or whatever, therefore I'll abuse that purpose right now. I got some interesting commentary on the previous chapter, and I'll just say this: in the end it'll all work out. Although, I think I'm writing a bit _too_ much on Zuko…crap….

**XXX**

**Break the Chain**

**«4 – A Turn of Events»**

"How's Katara?"

"She-she's still…she hasn't waken up yet…but Yun La says her fever's going away…what about Aang?"

"Yun La says we need to be patient. He's been hit hard. Whatever Katara used on him helped but Yun La says now it's up to him to heal himself."

"I see…and what about you…Your Kingliness?"

"I'm…fine…feeling a bit out of place…not used to all this…you?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

"You don't look fine. Maybe you should rest-"

"No. Not until my sister wakes up."

"Hey, Sokka, aren't you forgetting someone?"

"Oh yeah, Toph. Almost forgot you were here-"

"Hey!"

Sokka yelled as he was thrown back a good several feet. Toph smirked and the Earth King held back a smile. Several of the villagers were watching Sokka get up and rub the back of his head. "Toph, that wasn't funny!"

"You need to lighten up, Snoozles. You're so cranky I can _see_ it."

"Ha, ha, ha," he said sarcastically, getting to his feet and rubbing his rear. "Can you just…not do that again?"

At that unfortunate instance, Bosco rambled by and bumped into Sokka where it hurt most – his sore rear.

"Ow! Bosco, you stupid bear-nice bear, nice bear. I take it back, I swear I do! I'll give you my lunch, my dinner, anything, just don't eat me, okay? I don't want to die. I don't want to get eaten by a bear, even a pet bear!"

Bosco yawned in his face, then got off of his chest and continued down to the makeshift barn where he was staying with Appa. Sokka glared as he jumped to his feet, brushing dirt off his arms and clothes.

"So…" Toph began softly as Sokka returned to his seat in front of the fire. "Now what?"

"I don't know…" Sokka sighed. "Everything's just so…confusing. Things haven't been like this…not since Mom died."

"What happened?" the Earth King asked curiously.

"Several…several years ago, the Southern Water Tribe was really powerful. There were a lot of us; we weren't as strong as the Northern Water Tribe but we were something. And…I guess the Fire Nation decided to eliminate us. They ambushed us…over half the Tribe didn't survive…Mother didn't survive, either. I wasn't there…but Katara was."

"Where were you?"

"I was…being stupid," Sokka admitted in a low voice. "I ran off with the older boys…tried to fight the soldiers…I got lucky. One of the boys behind me hit me in the head with a chunk of ice. I was out cold…until Father found me, behind a bank of snow. I was one of five left…the Fire Nation soldiers either dragged the others off or…or killed them."

"I see…" the Earth King said softly. "I'm sorry."

"It's nothing-"

"No, I really mean it," the boyish man said, his voice suddenly stern. "Look at me, Sokka. I'm the Earth King, and what have I done for the Earth Kingdom? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I'm just…I'm just a figurehead, a symbol. My people-I mean, people in Ba Sing Se worship me…but I have no power. The Dai Li and Long Feng had the power."

"Until Azula," Toph spat out. Sokka nodded wearily, now so sick of that girl's name that he didn't provide any commentary with it.

"And now…I'm nothing," the Earth King sighed. He took off his spectacles and started cleaning the dirty lenses. "People should…they should stop calling me 'Your Majesty'. I'm not the Earth King anymore."

"We heard," Sokka said, remembering what Sen told him few days ago.

'_That firebending witch has declared herself ruler of Ba Sing Se, the first Earth Queen. The people of Ba Sing Se don't know what's really going on but they've been taking it all into stride. From what I heard, she's good with her words. There has been trouble in the lower rings, though, something about a boy who used to work in a tea shop there. They say he's the witch's brother.'_

"So what _is_ your real name anyways?" Toph asked.

"Kuei. I'm King Kuei…or just Kuei-"

"Y'know…" Sokka said slowly, something coming to mind. Now that he was thinking about what Sen told him, he started thinking about Sen, and the other men of this Earth Kingdom village. They said they'd follow the Earth-King Kuei to the bitter end. "I don't think it's over yet, Your Majesty-I mean, uh…"

"You can call me Kuei," the older man said with a smile. "I need to get used to it anyways."

"Uh, okay…Kuei…that does sound weird…but back to the point. Kuei, I don't think it's over yet. Sen and the other men of this village still see you as their king. Don't you think so?"

"Well, I guess that is true…it's a bit disturbing-"

"No, not disturbing. What I'm thinking is, you're still king of the Earth Kingdom. Ba Sing Se, with its double walls, they won't know anything. The Dai Li agents are going to make sure of that. But outside Ba Sing Se…you're still the Earth King. Get me?"

"Sokka…that's-"

"Brilliant, I know. That's me, the problem solver, the brains of the group," the Water Tribe teenager said smugly. Toph sighed in exasperation and rolled her unseeing eyes.

"But I don't get it-"

"It's like this, Kuei: the Earth Kingdom _hasn't_ fallen to the Fire Nation. Not yet. The Earth Kingdom's _enormous_; there is no way Azula or the Fire Nation can keep everybody in check. There's bound to be resistance fighters out there, like the ones back at Omashu-"

"I thought Omashu fell," Kuei interrupted. "I heard it's been renamed New Ozai."

"Since when did you know about this?" Sokka asked suspiciously. "I thought nobody bothered the Earth King with this stuff-"

"Gohrun told me," Kuei explained. He smiled. "So, what about New Ozai?"

"Well, Aang, my sister, and I snuck in, looking for King Bumi. We met some resistance fighters there. One of them said they'd rather die than surrender. So I'm thinking…maybe if we spread word that you, Kuei the Earth King, were raising a resistance army-"

"Then we'll get all the resistance fighters we need to fight back!" Toph exclaimed, jumping to her feet. "Sokka, you're a genius!"

"I know, I know."

Toph huffed and the next thing Sokka knew, he was sitting on his bruised tailbone, the wind knocked out of him. Toph was grinning and Kuei was laughing.

"Watch your ego, _Snoozles_. It's starting to get on my nerves."

Sokka scowled.

Laughter subsiding, Kuei helped Sokka back up to his feet. "So, when do we start?"

"Well, we can't exactly go anywhere right now…"

"Oh…"

The trio lapsed into silence, thinking about their two incapacitated benders. Then…

"So what _is_ wrong with Sugar Queen?"

"I…Yun La said she was going to tell me-"

"Your sister has been through much hardship," the healer declared, materializing next to Sokka. He yelped and toppled to the side. She looked – or seemed to be looking; nobody could tell with those folds over her eyes – at him before continuing. "This illness is predisposed to appear in benders, thanks to the chi in their bodies. The Avatar suffers from the same illness, which was why he's not waking."

"I'm glad I feel fine," Toph declared rather loudly. Yun La ignored her.

"Sometimes when a person is faced with an inner upheaval, an internal struggle with himself or herself, the chi within the person becomes disrupted. In normal people this leads to extreme stress, anxiety, gray hair, sometimes a shorter life…but in a bender, the turmoil leads to dangerous illnesses. Some benders have died when the struggle within themselves was too much to handle."

"What struggle?" Sokka demanded. "What kind of struggle is my sister going through?"

"You'll have to ask her yourself," Yun La said calmly. "Can you think of any possible reason for your sister to have kind of turmoil? Is there any reason why she would be under a great deal of stress?"

"I…uh…well…"

"We lost Ba Sing Se…and she saw everything. She was…always taking care of us, like a mother," Toph interjected. "Explains all our wonderful sisterly arguments."

"Uh, yeah, right Toph…well…she has been busy trying to make sure we don't kill ourselves…well, at least me…especially since Mom died…and she told us what happened…unbelievable…"

"She takes much upon her shoulders," Kuei said slowly, thoughtfully. "Given what I heard of their travels, I'm amazed she's come this far without…falling to pieces…trying to keep everyone together…"

"Well, I never!" Yun La exclaimed. The others leaned away from her outburst. "When she wakes up, all of you be very, very nice to her. Now excuse me, I have other patients to attend to."

The old woman strode off and disappeared into the darkness. They stared at her receding back, then Sokka sighed, bowed his head. "Maybe she's right. Katara has been doing too much for us."

"Yeah…" Toph said. "She has, hasn't she? Even though it's fun making her mad."

"How is making someone mad any fun?" Kuei asked curiously.

Sokka rolled his eyes. _Kuei the Curious King, that's what his name should be._ "That's just Toph's way of entertaining herself, since she can't exactly _see_ what it's like making someone mad-ow!"

Once again Toph raised up a peak right underneath Sokka, tossing him aside. As he sat up, rubbing his behind and glaring at her, she smiled.

"What's that, Snoozles?"

XXX

Today Azula was not in a good mood. It became evident very early on when she threw aside a dish during breakfast, snarling something awful about the cooks in the palace. When she came into the throne room and found servants cleaning everything, she made herself very clear about wanting to be alone – she starting barking at them to leave, and swung blue fire at the slower ones. She felt full of angry energy, felt the need to break something, smash it into pieces, and crush this something to dust. Cool and collected was her normal state but today, she felt like she was losing it.

Thirty minutes ago, an unlucky Dai Li agent confirmed that the Avatar was indeed alive. Scouts had discovered the remains of a camp in the forest surrounding the city, but they couldn't figure out where he and his friends were headed. The unfortunate bearer of bad news had been dragged out of the throne room, his shoulder and chest burned.

Just minutes ago a Dai Li agent informed her that someone among their ranks was talking. She asked for the details; the man in question had always been questionable but Long Feng kept him because of his undeniable talent. The man was a very skilled earthbender, and the other agents dismissed his shady behavior because of that.

Of course Azula didn't quite care if someone was a good bender as long as he was a loyal one. And loyal ones don't leak information.

"Who is being privy to our business?" she asked the shaking Dai Li agent. She held a blue fireball to his face, watched him sweat out an answer with pleasure.

"We-we believe it's-it's his village."

"Village? He's not from Ba Sing Se?"

"N-no. He-he's from the forest surrounding the city."

She snuffed out the blue fireball. "What's his name again?"

"Xuan Ji, Your Highness."

"Wasn't Xuan Ji the one who first discovered that clump of fur?"

The Dai Li agent nodded frantically. She could see the nervous fear in the man's brown eyes. He wanted out of the throne room, and back with his fellow agents. She made a mental note not to trust this agent with anything; he was obviously of the skittish sort and she detested such characteristics in people.

"Perhaps he's leaking information to those who know where the Avatar is," she said slowly. "The Avatar's pet had flown over the wall in the direction of this forest, am I correct?"

"Y-Yes, Your Highness."

"Perhaps they gave him the clump of fur to throw us off, to distract us while they put distance between us and them. But perhaps the Avatar is still in the forest, and this Xuan Ji is informing him of our every step. The Avatar wouldn't abandon Ba Sing Se, even after it's fallen to me. He'll stick around, try to find a way to get Ba Sing Se back. After all, without Ba Sing Se, where would the Earth Kingdom be?"

"Without Ba Sing Se, the Earth Kingdom is indeed lost to him, Your Highness."

Maybe she should retract that mental note. He may be of the skittish sort, but he knew exactly what to say.

"Exactly. Follow Xuan Ji. Find his village. If his village is indeed harboring the Avatar and his friends…you know what to do, of course. I don't have to guide you every step of the way, do I?"

"N-no, of course not, Your Highness."

"Good. Dismissed."

The Dai Li agent bowed, then literally ran out of the throne room, leaving Azula to her simmering thoughts. This was new information to her, information she needed to process while hammering out a solid plan for the Earth Kingdom and her position. She started pacing, while her swift mind pushed her irritated state aside and started piecing things together.

"Princess Azula?"

Long Feng. Again. She stopped and waited for the older man to approach her. He bowed, then said, "It's about your brother, Prince Zuko."

"What about him?" she asked coolly. "Is he well?"

"No, I'm afraid he's still quite ill. The palace healers are doing everything they can but…may I ask you something?"

"Of course. Ask away." She waved a hand at him as she walked up the platform to the throne.

"Why are you taking such pains to heal your brother? You know his loyalty is still in question, and his every action, even up to now, is quite questionable-"

"Long Feng, did you notice how many nobles and government officials were at the dinner that night?"

"I did, Princess Azula."

"If I'm to prove myself as a capable ruler, I need to show…_compassion_, don't I?"

"Of course. But everybody knows-"

"It doesn't matter," Azula said coldly, cutting him off. "As of now, to them he is prince of the Fire Nation. I need to show that I care about his well-being. An image is an image, Long Feng, don't you think? I mean, after all, what exactly is the Earth King to the people of Ba Sing Se?"

"You sit on the throne now, Princess Azula. Everybody knows you are more than a cultural symbol."

"As the Earth Queen, I need to convince these people that I care about them. That way there will be fewer people who question the Fire Nation's right to rule. Who question my right to rule. And to begin, I need to show that I care about Zuzu."

Long Feng raised an eyebrow at the title she gave to herself, but said nothing.

"However," and her voice was cold, "the Avatar and his friends are still out there. I said my brother will hunt down the Avatar and his friends; he needs to get better quickly in order to do that, doesn't he?"

"We are scouring for the best healers as we speak, Princess Azula. Your brother will be attended to accordingly."

"Good. That much I expect from a man like you. You are dismissed, Long Feng."

The man bowed swiftly but she still caught the scheming look on his face. She didn't bother; there were other things currently trying to occupy her mind.

As soon as Long Feng left, she looked down at her hands. She held up the index and middle fingers on each hand and pressed them next to each other. Her mind emptied of all thoughts as she slowly pulled the fingers apart. Azula smiled as she saw blue sparks in the space between her hands, then frowned. There was not enough power in the sparks.

She needed practice.

"Dai Li," she called out, addressing her two closest agents. "Send several of your worthless prisoners down to the training grounds. I'm sure they need exercise, as do I."

The agents' faces were impassive as they bowed and left to convey the orders to the guards down in the dungeons. She smiled, though, knowing exactly what they were thinking.

But she did need the exercise, and what better way to practice her lightning than with moving targets screaming, begging for mercy?

"_This _will be entertaining…"

XXX

Zuko was quite familiar with the fever raging through his body. Not too long ago he had a bout of the same illness, was left shaken at the nightmares in his head. One of them involved the Avatar.

_He had gone to the bathroom and washed his face in cool water. He looked up at the mirror, and yelled at the reflection gaping back at him. Though his eyes were still yellow, the scar was gone and he was bald. And there was a great blue arrow pointing down the center of his forehead._

But these dreams were nothing compared to those now assailing his mind. He slept lightly, tossing and turning in a bed – his bed, probably – but he couldn't wake up. He couldn't escape the voices accusing him, repeating the same lines over and over again. On some nights it was Uncle, whose disappointed voice struck him hard in the heart. On some nights it was the Avatar, who had looked at him sadly and asked him that question; but sometimes when he dreamt of the Avatar, it was in the battle down at the catacombs of old Ba Sing Se.

Once in a while he'd see Jin and Song, and hear their voices, kind voices, though Jin's was sweet and Song's heavy with pain. At one time he was plagued by what took place at that one Earth Kingdom village, where he protected Li from men who were supposed to be protecting the village, only to find himself thrown out after revealing his identity. At that village he had realized what it meant to be a true outcast – wanted by the Fire Nation and hated by everybody else.

More constant were his dreams of his mother, Ursa. Dreams of her were lulling, soothing. He dreamt often of that day at the pond in the garden, when he showed his mother how Azula fed the turtle-ducks, and what his mother said after shooing the mother turtle-duck away.

"_Zuko, that's what moms are like. If you mess with their babies…they're gonna bite you back."_

If only he could go back in time, when Grandfather Azulon was Fire Lord, Lu Ten was alive, and his mother was…simply there for him.

If anything, she kept him sane and alive, even after her disappearance so many years ago.

"_No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are."_

Who was he? Who was Zuko? He was the son of the Fire Lord Ozai, and Ursa, that much was clear. But _who_, exactly, was he?

The question was raging through his mind and body when he first returned to the conscious world. He slowly eased his eyes open, stared up at the ceiling of the room he was in, wondered why it wasn't that familiar red, gold, and black…then realized he was in the Ba Sing Se palace.

"Well, you've been out for a while," a middle-aged woman murmured, bending over him to press a cold wet cloth to his forehead. He stared at her, quite fascinated and horrified by the ample amounts of makeup on her face. Not only that but the blue makeup on her eyelids were smeared all over, as if she's been rubbing at her eyes more than once.

The woman rubbed at her eyes as she left the cloth there and turned to reach for something. "Here, this will ease the fever."

She offered a cup of lukewarm tea but he turned away, and the cloth slid off his head.

"I don't want it."

"But you must," the woman said. She had a voice that meant business. "It's for your own good, Prince Zuko."

"No."

The woman sighed. Then he thought for a moment, and asked, "You don't work here, do you?"

"No, I don't."

"Then what are you doing here?"

The woman didn't hesitate and she spoke with some indignation. "I was visiting Ba Sing Se; my cousin lives here and I come here from time to time. She suggested I set up a small fortunetelling shop this time, which I did; refugees were pouring in daily and I could use the extra silver or two, even a gold. I decided to do a stint as a healer as well, seeing how injured some of the refugees were. Then two weeks later Ba Sing Se loses the Earth King and Princess Azula is on the throne. Next thing I know these men have me in cuffs and I'm here with other healers pulled in from the streets, trying to heal you."

"What? That's ridiculous." It was. What was Azula up to, yanking in healers from everywhere just because he collapsed during that dinner?

"Ridiculous or no, we're stuck until your fever goes away. Now drink this tea."

"No."

The woman narrowed her eyes. "Would you like me to spread stories about that time you appeared in my village, astride that nasty bounty hunter and her shirshu?"

"_What_!" Zuko sat up quickly, then groaned and sank back down into his bed, regretting every second of it.

"You come crashing into my village riding that horrible beast; you think I'm going to forget you? That scar on your face told me enough. Now if you don't drink this tea, I will spread stories. Do I make myself clear? I want to get out of this palace and back home to my village. Am I clear?"

Zuko frowned, then glared at her. She sniffed. "That won't do you any good."

He still held that gaze. Lesser _men_ would shy away but this woman stared back at him, unmovable.

"If you drink this tea, I will tell you your fortune," she declared.

"No."

He allowed himself a triumphant smirk when he saw the woman's left temple twitch.

"Well, I suppose I'll practice my art here, on you, tea or no tea," she said with a false sigh. He frowned.

"I don't believe in that nonsense," he said slowly, turning his eyes up to the ceiling. "I don't believe in predicting the future."

"You're just like that boy," she declared with a huff. "Didn't take my predictions seriously. I warned him, I warned him…"

"What did you tell him?"

"He'll suffer and there will be much anguish in his life, most of them self-inflicted. Then there's his sister, who wouldn't stop asking me about this 'powerful bender' I said she was going to marry. Most people come to me asking about their love lives. They're never interested in anything else."

"Go figure," Zuko muttered. His head was starting to hurt again.

"But their friend, his future is quite fascinating. I've read many palms, tea leaves, cracked bones, and I've never found anything stranger than his fate."

He closed his eyes; he was feeling nauseous. The fever was coming back with a vengeance.

"He will be involved in a great battle, one between good and evil, one that'll determine the fate of this world!"

His lip twitched. "Unless you're blind and deaf, there is a war going on in this world, for a hundred years. Or is your village really that isolated?"

"Well, I never!" Now the woman was riled up. "I'll have you know that I'm as aware of the goings on in this world as you, Prince Zuko! This is the Avatar I'm talking-"

"The Avatar?" Zuko yelled. He sat up quickly, his anger and fixation on capturing the airbender overcoming the fever. "_That_ was the Avatar-augh…"

He sank down, no longer able to hold that train of thought. Avatar or no Avatar, the fever was consuming his mind.

_The Avatar…the Avatar…_

"_I finally have you. But I can't get you home because of this blizzard. There's always something. Not that you would understand. You're like my sister. Everything always came easy to her. She's a firebending prodigy. Everybody adores _her_. My father said she was _born_ lucky. He said _I_ was lucky to be born. I don't need luck, though. I don't want it. I always had to struggle and fight, and that's made me strong. That's made me who I am."_

_He stared out into the white storm, then heard something move behind him. He whirled around, then yelled and stumbled out into the snow while the great blue dragon uncurled itself from the coils, where the Avatar was supposed to be. _

"_Go to sleep, Zuko. Escape the cold, the pain, the misery. Go to sleep."_

"_I-I don't want to," he stammered back. It was true; the cold made him feel sluggish, sleepy…_

"_Go to sleep…just like Mother!"_

XXX

"Your Majesty." The burly man, Yamu, knelt before Kuei. "The men are gathering to finalize your plans."

"I see," the former Earth King said. He looked thoughtful for a moment, then smiled and nodded. "Very well. Sokka, I'll be back."

"Sure, go ahead. Just tell me everything they said when you come back…Your Majesty," Sokka replied, noticing the green-eyed glare Yamu sent him. He turned back to watching the low fire burning in the fireplace next to the healer's hut.

It was midday, over a week since the fall of Ba Sing Se, and everything had fallen into a strange lull of sorts. Aang and Katara were still out, despite everything Yun La and her assistant healers did; Toph was getting restless and cranky, even more so when the men told her wrestling would attract unwanted attention. She liked having something to do but not only could she not wrestle – for fun - but she was blind and everything else that could possibly keep her busy needed sight.

"No, Appa, you can't go out! You're too big, too fluffy, and-and you got a big fat arrow in the middle of your forehead!" the little Bei Fong girl was currently screeching. Appa had his head stuck out of the makeshift barn built for him and Bosco, and was lowing with some anxiety; his eyes looked at her pitifully but that look wasn't going to help him at all. "Just-just wait a few more-argh!"

She stomped and the log Sokka was sitting on leaped out from under him. He yelped and fell backwards, colliding with a local villager in the process.

"Sorry, sorry," he said hastily, jumping to his feet and quickly dusting at his faded blue clothes. He turned to apologize. "Sorry about…"

Words failed him. His jaw went slack.

"So…do I get a kiss hello, or do I need to make you?"

He stammered, trying to find his voice, but got nothing for his efforts. And that know-it-all smile…

"Well?"

"B-b-b-but-"

The next thing he knew, he was smothered in a hug and a kiss on the lips. He fell over, bruising his already-bruised back and rear, and adding a bump to the back of his head, but suddenly pain didn't matter.

"I missed you!" Suki whispered into his ear. "What happened, Sokka?"

"I should ask you the same," he replied. His heart was pounding right out of his chest. Suki was here the whole week he and the others were? Right under his nose? Without him knowing?

"It's a long story; do I really have to explain?" she asked teasingly. Before he could reply she covered his mouth with hers again, and he briefly forgot where he was.

"A-hem!"

Suki quickly scrambled off of him and he sat up, now rubbing at the back of his head. He looked around and found all eyes and attention on him and Suki, including Toph who had a huge smirk on her face. He glared at the earthbender. If anything, Sokka knew Toph would know if Suki was here or not; she could sense and differentiate between footsteps. So why didn't she tell him anything? Toph knew how he felt about Suki, and after what they discovered back at the palace all those days ago…

"It seems you're healed well enough to…move around a bit," Yun La said as she left the hut Aang was resting in. She nodded over to the building as another elderly woman emerged, carrying yellow and orange rags. "You also might want to see to your Avatar friend. He's awake."

"He is? Aang!"

"Twinkle Toes!"

Everybody watched as Kuei, fresh from his meeting with the earthbenders of the village, and Toph dashed to the hut. Sokka and Suki looked at each other.

"I think I'll pass," he said lamely.

"This is Aang we're talking about. Yun La's been telling me everything. You sure you don't want to see if he's okay? I mean, after everything you guys have gone through, especially him-"

"No," Sokka said firmly. "I want to know if you're okay."

"I'm fine, Sokka. We've been through this before, and we'll go through it again, just to get it in your thick-skulled head. I'm fine. I can take care of myself, you know."

Sokka shook his head. "Then why did Azula and those two creepy girls show up in Ba Sing Se with Kyoshi uniforms?"

"I-I…Sokka…" Suki began haltingly, then stopped, biting on her lower lip. He mentally slapped himself for stating that so boldly.

The transformation was stunning. Suki went from a weary but ecstatic teenage girl to walking sadness. Then he saw the tears in her eyes and realized there was something bigger, something far more serous than he assumed.

"Suki, what is it?" he asked, keeping his voice low. He guided her to a seat in front of the small fire and watched her intently, his hands holding hers.

"We-we found Appa," she said slowly, taking in a deep shaky breath. "We found him, fed him, cleaned him up, promised to take him to Aang. Then these three girls showed up. One of them was a firebender. Another girl was some sort of acrobat, and the third one threw daggers. Three against me and my girls. I thought we could pull it off. I was wrong."

"So that's how…"

"Yeah, Yun La told me it was Princess Azula from the Fire Nation, and her two friends Ty Lee and Mai. This village is pretty well informed for being so isolated and somewhere out here in the forest."

"These people have some informant inside Ba Sing Se. They've been telling us everything."

"I know…and none of it good. I heard what happened to Aang, Sokka. It's…it's terrible. That woman, Azula, she's a witch, someone sent straight from a nightmare. And there's no way to stop her…is there?"

"The only one who might have been able to stop her was Iroh, but…he's gone, too. I can't believe he sided with us, and I can't believe…it's just too incredible. Too much happening, going on for me. But Suki, where are the other girls? The other Kyoshi warriors?"

"That-that's the problem, Sokka." The tears were streaming. She turned and stared at the low orange fire. "I mean…I was out, for a long time. When I woke up, the men of this village were already bringing me here. I…I was the only one, Sokka. The only one…"

His eyes widened.

"No…Suki, you've got to be kidding…I'm pretty sure more of them are out there-"

"No, Sokka. I'm the only one left. The only one…"

She leaned against his shoulder and soon dampened his tunic with tears. He wrapped his arms around her, held her close, and closed his eyes, remembering when he first came to Kyoshi Island with Aang, Katara, Appa, and Momo, and the warrior girls who kicked his butt.

In his mind each of the faces vanished, until only Suki's remained.

**XXX**

Author's Endnote: After this one the chapters start growing exponentially. This is bad. Very bad. Very, very bad.

Suki's kind of hard to write. Anyone got suggestions for writing on her character? And Kuei the Earth King's? And how are the OCs, anyway?

Anyways, reviews are appreciated, thanks!


	5. Fear and Hope

Author's Note: As a writer, I am of the belief that written material shouldn't be made too easy to read and understand for the reader. I think written material should be challenging, which is why sometimes I have dialogue and nothing to say about who's saying what. I'm challenging YOU to figure it out yourself. Sometimes what people say can give away what the heck they're doing or thinking about.

Major thanks to heartsyhawk for beta-ing!

**XXX**

**Break the Chain**

**«5 – Fear and Hope»**

Aang had been lost in his dreams. He had woken up briefly, seen Katara's weary but relieved face through the numb haze, and smiled. She returned it, pulled him to her, hugged him, and held him as he slowly drifted into sleep.

It was a long sleep. For the most part he found himself facing flashbacks, memories of his long life. It began with images of his first meeting with Appa, when he was very young. He remembered helping Gyatso toss pies on the other monks, and laughing over the pranks. He remembered the horror of being told he was the next Avatar, an awesome responsibility and something that should've been revealed to him when he was older. He was only twelve, by the spirits! This new fear of his destiny sent him fleeing south with Appa, until a storm caught and tossed them into the sea. Sinking beneath the waves, he entered the Avatar State and encased the air bison and himself in ice, losing all sense of self and time. And while he remained undisturbed in his icy haven, Sozen and the Fire Nation wiped out the Air Nomads, and waged war on the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes.

Aang and Appa woke a century later to find a world changed. And they were the only ones left, an airbender and an air bison.

The memories of the past months were more numerous, more scrambled, more…frantic. Faces shuffled through his mind, voices and beings and what they symbolized, people whose lives crossed his and became tied to him: Katara, Sokka, Appa, Momo, King Bumi, Prince Zuko, Iroh the Dragon of the West, Admiral Zhao, Jeong Jeong, the Blue Spirit, Jun and her shirshu, Bato, the Mother Superior, Aunt Wu, Meng, Haru and his parents, Teo and his father, Chief Arnook, Princess Yue, Master Pakku and Master Yugoda, Avatar Roku, Avatar, Kyoshi, Hei Bai, Koh the Face Stealer, Won Shi Tong, Suki, Toph, Professor Zei, Long Feng, the Earth King, Bosco, General Hao, JuDee, Jet, Smellerbee, Longshot, Princess Azula, Mai, Ty Lee, Chief Hakoda, Guru Pathik, the list went on endlessly, stretching beyond his capacity for memory.

He stared in awe at the people whose lives touched his and vice versa. So many people, so many creatures, so many spirits, all crossing over each others' lives but always finding a center point in him, Aang the Avatar.

_Why am I thinking about everybody? I've never been so serious about this before…what's happening to me? What's changing me? Why do I feel like…like I lost something?_

The guru at the Eastern Air Temple. The chakras. The Crystal Catacombs of Old Ba Sing Se. Katara. Zuko. Iroh. Azula. The Avatar State. He let Katara go. And then Azula struck him.

"_In the Avatar State, you are at your most powerful…but you are also at your most vulnerable."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_If you are killed in the Avatar State, the reincarnation cycle will be broken and the Avatar will cease to exist."_

Was he dead? Was that why he was sitting here, cross-legged on a stone bench in front of a pond, lazily watching the small koi fish swimming in the clear waters? A tree grew behind him, throwing its branches out and shielding him from the gentle sun. Small paths marked by stones traversed the greenery of the garden. There was something vaguely troubling about the walls surrounding him and the garden but he didn't know what. He simply sat there, meditating in a way, letting time pass by. From time to time he saw a massive wolf stalking by, towering over the far wall on his left but never looking at him once. What looked like smoke rose from beyond the wall, but he didn't get up to go see.

_What am I doing here? Why am I here? Shouldn't I be…didn't Katara heal me?_

He finally turned his head from side to side, looking at the garden and the walls surrounding it. It was rather quiet; there were no birds, no people, nothing, just him and that spirit that just stalked by.

"_Very few survive a blow like the one you took in the mortal world. You are very lucky to be alive, Avatar."_

Avatar Roku! He looked up quickly at his most recent past being, then shrank at the stern stare the firebender sent him.

"I know…if it weren't for Katara-"

"_A lot of things wouldn't have taken place. I'm well aware. What will you do now, Avatar, when you return to the mortal world?"_

"I…I don't know," Aang admitted, staring down at the bench he sat on. Suddenly he felt very small and vulnerable. He wished Katara were here; her presence brought him comfort and security, and he desperately longed for both at the moment. "I mean…Ba Sing Se fell…and I did nothing to stop it. Roku, what did I do?"

"_A lot of things. The worst was leaving the guru. You know you should've stayed to open the seventh chakra, but you chose to leave."_

"Well, what was I supposed to do?" Aang cried out, suddenly angry. "I had to go save my friends! I can't leave them-"

"_They would've understood. They've seen what the Avatar State can do, especially when you are out of control. And whenever you enter the Avatar State, you are always out of control. Or did you forget that when you fled the Eastern Air Temple?"_

"I will _never_ abandon my friends!" Aang said.

"_You have much to learn, Avatar. When I was alive in the mortal world, I learned to sacrifice for the greater good. You will learn that, too, but the hard way."_

"Would you stop it? What was I supposed to do? These are my friends; I'll never, ever abandon my friends, even if it means I'll never master the Avatar State! You just don't understand! I would never leave my friends to the Fire Nation! Never!"

"_That is enough!"_ Avatar Roku advanced on Aang so fast he soon found himself pinned against the tree, the older Avatar in his face. _"There will come a time, Avatar, when you must leave your friends to fulfill a greater service to the world. It is your duty and your destiny as the Avatar to maintain peace. There will be sacrifice, losses, but think only of how much better the world would be. Do not let your selfish desires get in the way. The chakras should have shown you the way."_

"I was too busy trying to save Katara!" Aang said coldly. "Then Princess Azula shot me…in the Avatar State…I thought I died…"

"_Your friend Katara healed you with water touched by Tui and La. There will come a time when you must leave her, even when she is in the gravest danger, to face the destiny you chose to abandon a hundred years ago. Never forget that, Avatar. Even we in the spirit world depend on you to provide us with this victory. The Fire Nation cannot go on conquering the other nations, not at the rate and not with their methods. The mortal world and the spirit world are ultimately connected and neither can last when the Fire Nation upsets the balance."_

"I know," Aang said quietly. "General Iroh told me. He told all of us, back at the North Pole before Admiral Zhao killed La."

"_Then you understand the severity of your situation. It may be a long time before you can reenter the Avatar State, and without fear. It will take time to recuperate and regain your bending abilities, but you must regain them, and learn to firebend, before the solar eclipse. At that moment you cannot firebend but it is part of your destiny to master fire. Do you understand?"_

"Understand?" Aang sniffed, felt his eyes water. "What can I understand? I can't find anyone to teach me, Roku! Jeong Jeong's gone, and-and Iroh's in prison. And-and I hurt Katara, the last time I tried."

"_The _only_ time you tried. That was the foolish promise made by a foolish boy, but you have grown strong, Avatar. It is time to face your fear of fire, and master the element."_

"I'm not afraid!" he retorted angrily; his pride in himself flaring up at the accusation.

"_When you wake up, Avatar, you will find someone to teach you how to firebend. That is just one fear to overcome,"_ Avatar Roku said calmly. He held up a hand when Aang opened his mouth to protest. _"You are young, younger than most of us, and have yet to master all your fears. An Avatar must learn to hold fear at arm's length, and use it only for the greater good. That you must understand."_

He knew what Avatar Roku meant, but couldn't help staring down at his hands. In a way, Avatar Roku was right. His fear kept him away from firebending, and his fear stopped him from mastering the seventh chakra until it was too late. Fear was what nearly killed him.

"I understand," Aang said quietly.

He looked up, and saw that the spirit world was going dark. He jumped off the bench and stood up quickly but that wasn't going to change anything.

"_When the time comes, I will tell you about this place, this garden, this sanctuary. But now you must go back to the mortal world, and deal with the Fire Nation."_

Avatar Roku faded with the rest of the garden. Aang stared, then blinked as the darkness rushed up and swallowed him.

The world was fuzzy when he opened his eyes. Two elderly ladies stared down at him rather studiously, then with his third blink they went away. He found himself staring at an earthen wall-no, ceiling, then sighed and closed his eyes. An eternity later he opened them again.

Two faces stared down at him as darkness pulled back to the corners of his eyes. One had spectacles dangling off of his face; the other had unseeing eyes that stared at him emotionally.

"Twinkle Toes, you up?"

"Aang, you're awake!"

"Hey…uh…so, what did I miss?" he questioned weakly, then yelped as the Earth King and Toph hugged him.

XXX

He woke several more times the next two days, found a different healer attending to him each time he regained consciousness. He didn't care much, as he soon slipped back into his feverish state within moments of waking. He was visited by similar dreams of the terrifying blue dragon, whose voice was so like Azula's. But often he heard Uncle's voice, speaking wisdom that he found himself missing sorely. How he wished it was Uncle beside him, telling him that once the fever passed, he'd become the prince Uncle always knew he'd be.

The problem was that now he wasn't sure Uncle would see the good he wanted to see in his nephew.

"_In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength."_

Hope? He lost hope, he lost it when Azula handed him the means of restoring honor, meaningless empty honor. Zuko was still searching for honor. It had slipped out of his grasp and the honor he had been wrapping himself in for days after the fall of Ba Sing Se he now knew was not true honor.

"_I believe people can change their lives if they wanted to. I believe in second chances."_

Did he have a second chance? His second chance was to bring back the Avatar to restore his honor. But he blew it, and everybody knew it. Even his sister knew it; there was no denying it, no matter how she prettied the situation with her words.

So there must be a third chance, a third chance to get things right and his throne back…or maybe this had nothing to do with a throne at all.

"This is so confusing!" he had exclaimed when he woke up one day and found that middle-aged woman tending to him again.

"I should expect that from someone with this kind of illness," she said flatly while force-feeding bitter tea down his throat. "You are going through a change of character, of a deeply held belief in what you believe is your identity. You're questioning yourself, and this has caused turmoil, and the fever raging inside your body."

"Shut up," he hissed, knowing full well what she was talking about. Uncle already explained it to him the first time he got sick; he didn't need to hear the explanation all over again. That reminded him too much of his uncle.

"What _is_ bothering you? I'm curious. And maybe if you talk about it, you'll heal faster. A peace of mind is one of the best medicines for an illness like this," the woman suggested.

"I don't even know who you are; why should I confide in you?" he asked, then couched several times. His lungs rattled with each upheaval.

"You can call me Madame Wu or Aunt Wu," she said. "Are you satisfied?"

He fixed his eyes on everywhere but her.

"No."

He closed his eyes again, but before he let sleep carry him away from the pain, he felt Madame Wu take his left hand and turn it over. His palm was opened and her fingers traced the lines in them. He shivered and tried to pull away but she held fast. He heard murmurs, sounds of approval and shock, before yanking his hand back and curling up to sleep away the fever.

She said something but he forgot them in the haze of sleep. But soon he found himself regretting trying to escape into his dreams and nightmares. He wished he could wake up but it wasn't happening, he was stuck in his nightmares, but this was the worst. Not even the blue dragon with Azula's voice could strike his pride and honor, and crush it to pieces like the accusing voice of the waterbending girl.

"_Why did they throw you in here? Oh wait, let me guess, it's a trap so that when Aang shows up to help me you can finally have him in your Fire Nation clutches. You're a terrible person, you know that? Always following us, hunting the Avatar, trying to capture the world's last hope for peace. But what do you care? You're the Fire Lord's son. Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your blood."_

"_You don't know what you're talking about."_

"_I don't? How dare you! You have no idea what this war has put _me_ though, me personally…the Fire Nation took my mother away from me."_

"_I'm sorry…that's something we both have in common."_

It frightened him that her accusing words were so true; they were what forced him to reply like that. He couldn't stand those allegations, felt his pride die with each hateful word she uttered, but what frightened him more was what she said about her mother.

"_The Fire Nation took my mother away from me."_

"…_that's something we have in common."_

How strange it was, to share something with an enemy, let alone a waterbending peasant girl from the Water Tribe most decimated by the war. It was even stranger that they revealed something so intimate, so important in their lives, to each other. They were enemies, opposites, fire and water, companion of the Avatar and son of the Fire Lord, and yet…what happened down at the caves underneath Ba Sing Se, did all that really happen?

"_I'm sorry I yelled at you before."_

"_It doesn't matter."_

"_It's just that for so long now, whenever I would imagine the face of the enemy, it was your face."_

"_My face? …I see."_

"_No, no, that's-that's not what I meant."_

"_That's okay. I used to think that this scar marked me. The mark of the banished prince, cursed to chase the Avatar forever. But lately, I've realized I'm free to determine my own destiny, even if I'll never be free of my mark."_

What drove him to say such things to this stranger, this Water Tribe peasant girl, this enemy of his? He couldn't understand what was going through his mind back then, couldn't comprehend his actions towards her.

"_Maybe you could be free of it._

"_What?"_

"_I have healing abilities."_

"_It's a scar. It can't be healed."_

"_This is water from the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole. It has special properties, so I've been saving it for something important. I don't know if it'll work but…"_

He had allowed her to approach him, to stand toe to toe, face to face, eye to eye with him. Him, a banished prince, standing at the same level as a girl from a backwater society! What was wrong with him? He was still a prince wasn't he? And she was still a peasant! What was it that kept him from having even a thought of contempt for this girl as she held out her amulet to him?

"_I don't know if it'll work but…"_

And he let her touch his scar.

Only the healers back at the Fire Nation had touched the scar besides him. Uncle never even dared to ask, and Song…he took her hand away and she understood. Everyone who saw the scar understood. They didn't need to identify him to know what the scar must mean to him, disfiguring half his face and leaving him an angry lonely man.

And then he let her, his enemy, touch his face. Touch the scar. She said the enemy in her mind had his face, and he understood immediately. But she would never understand what the scar meant to him. She never will, not after what he did to her, to his uncle, to the Avatar, to Ba Sing Se and the Earth Kingdom.

"_I thought you had changed!"_

"_I have changed."_

Was he telling the truth or did he mean it differently? Was there something else to his turning on his uncle like that, running to Azula's side to help her defeat the Avatar and the peasant?

"_I believe in second chances."_

Did he really have that second chance? Was there really a way for him to turn things around again? Uncle thought he would choose good. The waterbending peasant thought he had changed. They were both wrong…but he was wrong, too.

"_Look into your heart and see what it is you truly want."_

Azula had tempted him with words and promises, and his mantra had failed him. She was right about his desire for Father's love, honor, and a passage home. He did want those things, but what did he truly want?

"_In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength."_

And it came to him, slowly at first, but faster and faster as his uncle's words swirled in his head, echoing again and again, taunting him, begging him, demanding that he look deep into himself, deeper than ever before, all in search of what it was he really, truly, deeply wanted.

It was just one word, but a powerful word, the most moving word to exist in the human vocabulary. And chasing it was the first time he caught this wretched fever and suffered for days. The first time he began to understand what was really going on, and where he stood in the midst of the chaos.

"_What are you doing here?_

"_I was about to ask you the same thing. What do you plan to do now that you've found the Avatar's bison? Are you going to keep him locked up in our apartment? Should I make some tea for him?_

"_First I have to get him out of here."_

"And then what?_ You never think these things through. This is exactly what happened when you captured the Avatar at the North Pole. _You had him and then you had nowhere to go!_"_

"_I would have figured something out-"_

"NO_! If his friends hadn't found you, _you would have frozen to death_!"_

"_I know my own destiny, Uncle!"_

"_Is it your own destiny or one that someone is trying to force on you?"_

"_Stop it, Uncle! I have to do this!"_

"I'm begging you, Prince Zuko!_ It's time for you to look inward and start asking yourself the big question: _who are you, and what do YOU want?_"_

In the echo he heard his mother, those last words she ever spoke to him before vanishing from his life forever, destroying him internally in ways he didn't want to understand.

"_No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are."_

The darkness was fading, and he could see the light through his eyelids. He could hear movement somewhere in the distance, and as he became more and more awake, the sounds became sharper, clearer and closer. A door was being closed.

Zuko opened his eyes slowly, stared up at the ceiling. He was aware of one other person in his room, but he knew who that person was, didn't fear her.

"I know what I want now, Uncle," he said softly. Gradually, just gradually, the pieces of an intricate puzzle began to put themselves together. "And this time, I've got the plan to prove it."

He closed his eyes, sighed deeply, but was very aware of the smile on Madame Wu's face.

xxx

"I am pleased to inform you that your brother is well and recovering," Long Feng said slowly and with some contempt, keeping his eyes on her feet. Azula smiled. It had been a while since Long Feng dared to look her in the eye. She knew the effect she had on most people. Many of the Dai Li agents never looked her in the eye now. Only her two close agents, Mai, and Ty Lee dare to meet her eyes. Even her older brother had stopped looking at her face.

Her smile grew as she digested the news. It was wonderful, this sense of power, presence. Her father commanded the same attention but most people averted their eyes only because of the flames he sat within, not because of his face alone. She didn't need fire or lightning or any external source of power to exert her own authority and presence on others.

"Thank you, Long Feng. You are dismissed," she said idly, tapping the tips of her fingers together. She smirked as Long Feng literally stalked out of the throne room, then sighed and sank into the painfully uncomfortable chair.

Sometimes it was boring being the new leader of Ba Sing Se. She needed some distraction, and not the prisoner escapade. None of them gave enough fight to satisfy her desires, and that had made her even angrier. Now she was mellow, calm, but terribly, terribly bored.

_Hm…how about a visit to Uncle? Let's see how he's holding up to imprisonment._

She rose to her feet and left the throne room, her two Dai Li agents tagging along. Down many halls and stairs she went, until the surroundings changed from warm earthy stone and wood walls to dank gray stonework. One of the Dai Li agents removed a torch from its perch on the wall and held it so she wouldn't have to light the way herself. Azula allowed herself a small pleased smirk as the three people continued down the pathway to the dungeons.

Three agents were lounging around a table near the entrance to the prison; they were drinking something hot and talking quietly amongst themselves. Two agents stood guard over the door; they immediately unlocked and opened it as she approached. The other three agents fell silent, rose to their feet, and bowed to her as she passed by them. She slowed a step, eyed the one they called Xuan Ji, but he stoically kept his eyes on the floor like the others. She studied him for a second, his strong earthbending frame, and could already see the shadow of suspicion hanging over him. Xuan Ji was indeed a suspicious character, especially for a Dai Li agent.

A step into the prison, and one of the two men guarding it murmured, "Princess Azula, Xuan Ji has left for his village only once in the past week. It is the Chen village, in the forests outside Ba Sing Se's outer wall. There has been no suspicious activity on the part of the villagers or Xuan Ji, but…"

"But what?" she asked as she went deeper into the stomach of the dungeon. The guard followed her, while one of her agents stayed outside with the other guard.

"Near the wall behind the huts there was a girl. She doesn't look like a member of the village, and the village seems unaware of her. She's been…swinging around these strange looking objects. They look like copper fans-"

Azula stopped and the guard tripped in his haste to follow suit. The agent holding the torch watched him with an amused, mocking smile.

"Fans, you say?" she said slowly, turning to eye the guard. "You could have told me this earlier. But I suppose…very well. Now, inform me on the upkeep of the prisoner here."

She folded her arms behind her as she started walking again. The guard, now visibly sweating, stammered, "W-which prisoner, Y-Your Highness-"

"There is only _one_ prisoner in this prison I'm interested in. Now who would that be?" she said coolly. Inwardly she sighed; she hated it when people froze up on her. That was undesirable and she made up her mind to find someone else to act as guard of the prison.

"T-this way, Your Highness."

The guard stepped ahead of her to show the way. Deeper and deeper into the prison, Azula noted many empty rooms and cells. She decided it was a testament to the methods of the Dai Li that less of Ba Sing Se's treasury went into the upkeep of prisoners. There were always better uses for the wealth of Ba Sing Se.

There were a series of doors in the hallway the guard turned to. They all looked the same, but the guard stopped in front of one door. He made to pull out the keys but then hesitated and turned to her. Azula shook her head, then stepped towards the door, pushing him aside. She peered in through the bars.

General Iroh, Dragon of the West, older brother of Fire Lord Ozai, uncle of Azula and Zuko, and traitor to the Fire Nation, was languishing away in a corner of the small cell. Robed in ragged rotting clothes, he sat with his eyes fixed on the stone ground. He seemed to ignore her completely; maybe he was. She narrowed her eyes at the hollows, the sagging skin, the dark bags under the man's eyes. There was a tin cup half-filled with water but no food tray.

"Where is his food?" she asked quietly. The silent treatment rule had been broken.

The guard was clearly perplexed. "I-I don't know, Your Highness. My shift d-doesn't match with t-the-"

"Never mind." Her voice sliced through the air, cutting the guard off. "I want him fed. I don't want a dead traitor on my hands. Father will not be pleased."

She glared at Iroh's unmoving form. "I think he's sleeping, don't you?"

The guard stared at her. Sweat literally poured down his face. She sighed and looked at her agent. The sallow-faced man nodded and banged his torch against the door. "Hey you, old man. Wake up! No sleeping!"

The prisoner stirred but no more. Azula frowned. "Feed him anything from the kitchens. I want him alive by the time I send him to the Fire Nation. Have I made myself clear?"

"Y-yes Your H-Highness," the guard stammered. He still stood there, shaking. Azula sighed.

"Now!"

As the guard hurried down the hall, Azula turned her eyes back to the prisoner. He was now, indeed, looking at her.

She shuddered involuntarily at the dead look in his yellow-brown eyes, then set her face in a stern frown, and turned away. Next, she had some orders for her Dai Li agents regarding Xuan Ji. And if all goes well with that, then she'll be spending the rest of the day with Mai and Ty Lee with fewer things to worry about.

XXX

Toph fidgeted in her seat as Yamu explained the situation: Dai Li agents were following the village's informant when he visited during the past week. The earthbenders quickly hid all traces around the village, but everyone knew that would never deter the Dai Li agents, and Princess Azula.

In short, the Chen village was asking them to leave, them being herself, Aang, Sokka, Katara, Suki, Kuei, Appa, Momo, and Bosco.

This was after Aang stood up and declared that he needed to find Jeong-Jeong, whoever the hell he was, because this man was a firebender. Not just a firebender, but a firebending _master_. Toph had sensed Sokka's apprehension and realized Aang had tried to learn firebending before. Things didn't just…happen the way Aang wanted them to happen.

"At least there's something to do," she muttered. She felt Sokka jump to his feet and protest the decision to leave. Katara was still sick, although Yun La said her fever was lessening and her condition was improving.

"Sokka, we have to leave," Aang butt in, cutting off the older boy. "Azula won't stop until she finds us. We can't put this village in danger. We have to leave. Besides, I need to find a firebending teacher, and the only one out there is Jeong-Jeong."

"What about my sister! She's still sick! We can't just move her!"

"She's getting better," Yun La input.

"Yeah, but she's not awake," Sokka retorted. "I'm not moving until she wakes up."

Some of the other earthbenders in the village muttered amongst themselves. Toph could overhear some of the benders grumbling about the "little sprout" being "a bit immature." She thought Sokka was being a bit immature, too. Appa can carry Katara until she gets better, and he'll be leading the Dai Li away from the Chen village. What point was there in endangering people who help them?

"Just two more days," Suki suggested, trying to ease Sokka and his fretting. "If she doesn't wake up by then, we can use Appa. He can carry her…and the rest of us, I suppose."

Toph smiled.

She _did_ know Suki was here in the village, as soon as they stepped inside the crudely made walls. She was a bit confused as to why the girl was here, then remembered Sokka and Kuei discussing the uniforms the Fire Nation princess and her two freaky friends wore when they appeared at his palace. But, just to mess with Sokka, she said nothing about Suki's presence in the village. Maybe she should have said something, given the bitter stuff she found in her food the same day Sokka and Suki literally bumped into each other.

_Thanks, Toph, for bumping me into Suki. You're welcome, Sokka._

"Uh…Toph, why do you have that look on your face?"

"What look, Sokka?" she asked slyly.

"Never mind."

"Guys," Aang said, rather annoyed with the banter. "We have more important stuff to talk about."

"Right, right, whatever you say, Twinkle Toes," she said, leaning back and bracing her weight against her left arm. She sensed Yun La rising from her seat around the large fire near the center of the village, and leave for her hut, where Katara was. Sokka was rising on his feet, then suddenly sat back down.

"We need to spread the word that the Fire Nation has taken control of Ba Sing Se," Kuei said, summarizing the game plan. "But the Avatar's still alive, and so am I. We can raise an army, contact the Water Tribes, and attack the Fire Nation when the solar eclipse occurs."

"We can spread the word here," Yamu declared. "There are other villages here in the forests and near the Serpent's Pass. Some villages will need convincing but we can do it."

"In like two months?" Sokka demanded skeptically. "Is that even possible?"

"Word travels fast," Sen said. "We should know, thanks to our informant."

"Hey, tell us about this informant of yours," Aang asked curiously. "How does he get all the information?"

"It's…private," Gohrun said hesitantly. "His life will be in danger if we tell you."

"His life's already in danger," Toph snorted. "Dai Li agents were tracking him."

"We _told_ him to be careful," another earthbender, Ataku, muttered. "I don't know where he messed up…"

"He said he's been feeling eyes on him," Yong Jun, Ataku's older brother and Yamu's right hand, said. "He needs to stop coming here; this village is in danger if the Dai Li agents are watching him. And if Princess Azula is as persistent as the Avatar's friends say, then we need to clear the village and make for some of the other villages out here in the forest."

"You don't need to do that!" Toph felt Aang leap onto his toes. "We'll leave! We'll have Appa fly or throw fur from his back and lead a trail away from the village. I know how much risk you took to help us, so we'll protect you. We'll leave tomorrow."

"What?" Sokka yelled. "Suki said two days, and I'm fine with that! If you haven't forgotten, Katara's still sick!"

"Like I didn't know that!" Aang said angrily. "But Sokka, we can't draw the Dai Li to this place, and we definitely can't let Azula find us here. She'll destroy this village and enslave everyone, if not kill them!"

"Oh yeah, I heard about _that_ one," Ataku remarked. "He said she used some of the prisoners as target practice. _Half_ of them didn't make it."

"Was any of the prisoners an old man?" Toph asked quickly. She didn't know _that_ much about Princess Azula but she didn't doubt that Azula would do that to her uncle.

"He's still locked away," Gohrun said slowly. "He's to be sent back to the Fire Nation. Something about trials and traitors."

"Well, he is a traitor, after the way he went after Admiral Zhao," Sokka said. Toph wasn't there but the others told her everything, including Aang's trip into the spirit world, the whole moon spirit deal, and Katara's crazy battle with Zuko. Hey, speaking of Zuko…

"So what happened to the hothead?" she asked of the earthbenders.

"Hothead?"

"Zuko. The angry freak with the ponytail. What happened to him?"

"Why do you care, Toph?" Sokka demanded angrily. Aang remained silent when he, of all people, should be the one asking that question. After all, this was Zuko, the banished prince who chased Aang all over the world last year, then went and vanished for a while with an occasional run-in now and then, only to turn up in Ba Sing Se at the same time as them, and turn all heads by siding with the crazy sister who was trying to capture him, if not kill him.

She shrugged carelessly. "I'm just curious. All I hear about is Azula, Azula, Azula. And the Dai Li. Change of subject?"

"If you must know," Yamu said, "Azula's brother is ill. Nobody knows what it is but Azula's really looking out for him, taking healers off the streets to cure him…is that supposed to be unusual?"

"Uh, yeah. Just a few weeks ago, she was trying to kill him," Sokka explained flatly. "This family's just whack. The father wants to rule the world, the uncle is kinda crazy, the sister is a monster, the brother is a backstabber, and the mother…I don't know. And I don't care-"

Toph stiffened as she felt a set of familiar vibrations, a set that hadn't been used in a while, approach.

"The Fire Nation took their mother away," Katara said softly, weakly. She was standing just outside the circle around the fire, with Yun La at her side. "Just like it took ours, Sokka. Just like our mother."

**XXX**

Author's Endnote: The first several chapters of this story deals with Zuko after 'The Crossroads of Destiny', so if you were looking to the gAang Adventures, there won't be much. Of course, _after_ the first several chapters…

Reviews are deeply appreciated.

Next chapter: Reliving the past is painful. Can that be changed?


	6. Connection

Author's Note: What I love about stuff like Avatar is that it makes people think unhealthily, especially if it's just a cartoon. Just think about them, wracking their minds over what happens next, how Ty Lee could be part Air Nomad, and which shipping will sail next season.

Seriously, doesn't that sound retarded?

Major thanks to heartsyhawk for beta-ing!

**XXX**

**Break the Chain**

**«6 – Connection»**

_It was a summer morning when the first of several Fire Nation ships appeared on the horizon. Father was due home any time. Gran-Gran had been up early to help deliver a baby somewhere on the other side of the small city. Sokka had convinced Mother to let him skip chores so he could run off with the other Water Tribe boys to greet the warriors home. And Katara was helping her mother make breakfast, as was her chore every morning._

"_Ships on the horizon!"_

_The cry went up outside. Her heart jumped. Father was home! Katara looked at her mother quickly, who nodded, and she ran outside the ice house. Women, children, and the elderly were spilling out of their homes, excited about the warriors returning to the village after being away for so long as they fought in the war. _

_Then another cry went up._

"_Fire Nation ships! They're headed this way!"_

_And pandemonium broke loose throughout the village. _

_Katara ran back home to find her mother hastily throwing things into seal skin bags. They heard several explosions and her mother tensed and moved faster._

"_Quickly, Katara! Go find Gran-Gran and Sokka! Then come straight back here, you hear me?"_

_She nodded and did as told. Unfortunately, Gran-Gran _was_ all the way across the city, and that part of the city was under attack. Katara dashed through the city as fast as her little legs could take her, but it still felt like an eternity had passed by the time she found her grandmother, who was quickly heading back home, carrying a bag of her supplies._

"_Gran-Gran! Where's Sokka?"_

"_He's outside the village with the other boys!" her grandmother exclaimed. She grabbed Katara before she could bolt. "No, child, don't! It's too late!"_

"_Mother said to find Sokka-"_

"_He's with the other village boys. They'll be fine! Right now we need to get to your mother and-"_

_An explosion nearby made Katara scream and throw herself into her grandmother's arms. She clung tightly and started sobbing as the smoke came rushing towards them, stinging her eyes, and filling her mouth and nostrils with a horrid burning stench. All around them women and children were screaming and running, and the elderly were hobbling in every direction._

_As the smoke slowly cleared Katara saw a shape throwing things rapidly. It was a monstrous thing, with horns and angles where humans shouldn't have them. But once the smoke dissipated, she realized it was a man in armor. Red armor. A Fire Nation soldier! And more were appearing in the distance, fireballs in their hands, throwing them at buildings and people. Smoke and steam were rising high into the sky and people were shrieking, not just with fear but with pain. The soldiers were hurting people. They were _killing_ people._

"_No!" Katara screamed as an older woman and her child collapsed, hit head-on by a massive fireball. Gran-Gran yanked her away as the soldier who hit them turned to her. She stared at the mask hiding everything but the eyes. She could barely see the eyes but they were staring at her, right through her._

"_Katara!" her grandmother called out and pulled her towards the other side of the city. "Katara!"_

_They ran, dodging fireballs, smoke, wreckage, the injured, the dying, and the dead. Tears streamed down her face as she watched people, _her_ people, fall to the fire of the soldiers. She cried out, struggled with her grandmother, wanted to help a sobbing boy to his feet, wanted to comfort a mother screaming for her child and husband, wanted to do _something_ to help them._

_Why were the Fire Nation soldiers doing this to them? This city was nearly defenseless, the men were away, and there were very few waterbenders in the South Pole. Katara's mother was a waterbender, but there was only so much one woman could do. And she was all the way across the village. _

_A fireball sailed over her head, in the direction of their home. Katara screamed and, with one final savage tug, broke away from her grandmother's grip and ran in the direction of the smoke and steam. _

"_Mother!" she shouted, diving into the thick humid smoke. She waved at the choking cloud with her short arms as she ran, then stumbled over a body. She gasped as she fell face-first into the snow, then scrambled to her feet and whirled around._

_It was a neighbor, a kind woman named Hara. She stared at the burned skin, an angry red and black mass on Hara's face. She quickly turned and continued home, dodging explosions, screams, Fire Nation soldiers, and only occasionally stopping to help someone to his or her feet before running onward._

"_Mother!" she yelled._

"_Katara!"_

_Mother was still alive! She followed the source, practically barreled into her mother. They fell into the snow and rubble of what Katara realized was their home. Packed sealskin bags were scattered all over the ground and in the back was a steady stream of smoke and steam._

"_Katara, where's Sokka? Where's Gran-Gran?"_

_The little girl looked behind her quickly but her grandmother was not there. "I-I don't know. I couldn't find Sokka, Mother! I don't know where he is!"_

_She was looking over her shoulder again, hoping Gran-Gran was right behind her when she charged into the smoke, but the silhouette of a Fire Nation soldier materialized instead. She stared, clinging to her mother's stiffened body, as the nightmarish mask emerged from the thick gray air. _

_Her mother gasped and quickly wrapped her arms around Katara. The Fire Nation soldier advanced on them. It opened its hand and a fireball formed. Katara stared at the fireball, finding it strangely alluring. It was hot, burning, alive, and it killed. It was destroying her home, and the people she knew._

_From the far right corner of her eyes, she saw her mother's arm shoot forward. Snow flew up in a heavy long clump and threw itself at the firebender, but the soldier thrust its palm out and a massive fireball turned the snow into steam. Katara screamed, but had nothing left when the soldier abruptly thrust out its other palm._

_A sudden flurry of movements. Katara found her face buried deep in cold stinging snow, with weight thrown over half her body. She sputtered out cold water as she pulled herself from underneath the snow, then turned and stared at the body of her mother, lying face-down in the snow. The last traces of smoke were rising off of her limp body._

"_Mother!" she screamed, and turned her body over._

_She stared._

"_S-Sokka?"_

_Katara couldn't believe it. Instead of her mother's charred and lifeless body,her brother Sokka lay dead in her arms, his chest burned, his eyes closed, blood seeping from a corner of his mouth. She looked around quickly and gasped. It was no longer the small proud Southern Water Tribe city that was razed in the Fire Nation attack years ago. It was a small Earth Kingdom village, burning to the ground and sending terrible black smoke into the sky. She stared down at herself, realized time had shot forward, and that this was a dream. A horrible nightmare!_

"_Sokka!" She turned towards the Fire Nation soldier, the one who had killed her mother, but the snow she had pulled off the ground into a 'snow whip' dropped with a soft plop as the soldier's mask suddenly vanished and she saw the attacker's face._

_Zuko._

_Her heart started pounding as she scrambled away from both Sokka's body and Zuko. What was _he_ doing here?_

_She opened her mouth to shout that question at him, but movement to her left caught her attention instead. Someone materialized, a familiar figure, and Zuko whirled towards it, and wordlessly shot a fireball. _

_A blue fireball, Azula's fire._

_Suddenly the figure became clearly defined and Katara screamed._

"_AANG!"_

_She scrambled to her feet and dove towards the boy's falling body. She grabbed at him, and gasped when her arms swiped through his body. She tried to pull her arms back to brace her fall, but everything was happening much too fast and she braced herself for the impact._

_She kept falling, sinking into nothingness, and all around her she could hear the Fire Nation Princess laughing. It was a cold sound that spelled out despair._

"_Katara."_

_She opened her eyes. She was lying on her stomach on damp earth. A worm squirmed out of the dirt and she quickly sat up, scrambled away with a cry of surprise. Then she started choking at the rotting wet stench of the Foggy Swamp-the Swamp how'd she get there?_

"_Katara. It's been a long time."_

_She turned to the familiar voice, and stared at the only Water Tribe girl she knew who had white hair._

"_Yue? How-what-what's going on? First I'm back home and Mother…she was there…then…I don't understand Yue. Was all that supposed to mean something?"_

_She stood up, looked up at the tall thick trees that strained the sunlight. Yue stood in front of some of the rays, glowing brightly in both the sun and her own light. The Moon Spirit looked at Katara and smiled sadly._

"_It's everything you fear, everything that has happened, and everything that might happen. I heard you, Katara. I heard you the other night, and I've been watching. My father is rebuilding our city, your people is moving to another place in the South Pole, the Fire Nation keeps turning out weapons of war, and I've been watching you. I'm sorry, Katara, for everything that's happened to you, to Aang, to Sokka, to all your other friends."_

"_Yue…is there…any way to change this?"_

"_The past?"_

"_N-no, not the past," Katara stammered. The 'past' had so much meaning to her, so many memories, and many of them so painful. "I mean…is there any way to get back Ba Sing Se?"_

"_I don't know, Katara," Yue said sadly. "I can't tell you that. It's…not possible. But I want to tell you, Katara, to just hold on. Things have become hard for everyone, and many of them want to give up. But there's still hope. The eclipse and the comet are coming, and so much can happen between now and then. Please don't give up, Katara."_

"_I wasn't going to," Katara protested. _

_The Moon Spirit looked at her with mournful eyes and she looked away._

"_I…" Katara swallowed, stared at the worm at her feet. "I'm so tired, Yue. This war is…it's hurting me…so much. I thought…when we were still in Ba Sing Se, there would be hope but…"_

_Yue nodded sadly. "I know. But Katara, Princess Azula isn't invincible. Nobody's invincible, not even Aang. You know that."_

"_I know…"_

_The Moon Spirit smiled, then stepped close to Katara. "When you go back to the mortal world, keep doing what you are so good at doing. Help those who need it and keep fighting for the ones you love; the Fire Nation has to be stopped at all costs and you have in role to play in doing so. No matter how tired you are, you have to keep trying."_

"_I know…" Katara bit her lip; she thought about the day her mother did die, couldn't stop seeing the ugly burns on her face and body. "But…it's so hard…"_

_Yue stepped closer and gently pressed her lips to Katara's forehead. Her lips were cool yet comforting, and a sense of peace washed over the waterbender. "Just keep trying, Katara. Make sure Aang, and Toph, the Earth King and all the others on our side, know not to give up. Everyone has to keep trying if they're going to get the Earth Kingdom back and defeat the Fire Nation. Don't hesitate to help people in need; they might help you win the battle. And…please tell Sokka…that I love him, and that I'm always watching over him. Tell him…I'm so glad he found Suki again…I never want to see him so sad…okay?"_

_Katara nodded, whispered, "Okay."_

_Yue smiled. "Goodbye, Katara. I'll see you whenever I'm up in the sky."_

_The sunlight started shining through the Moon Spirit and she faded away, vanished. Katara sighed, looked around the swamp, wondering if the light was going to play more tricks on her. It had once when she was fully awake and actually physically present in the swamp and she was uncertain whether her dreams would recreate the effect._

_Then she noticed everything fading. Something was calling her, pulling her away, beyond the dimmed swamp. She didn't know where it was beckoning her to, only that she should follow._

_In the darkness she floated in, she heard voices, distant voices. One sounded angry, the other hopeless. Then a long quiet._

"_I'm sorry I yelled at you before."_

"_It doesn't matter."_

"_it's just that for so long now whenever I would imagine the face of the enemy, it was your face."_

"_My face? I see."_

"_No, no, that's-that's not what I meant."_

"_That's okay. I used to think that this scar marked me. The mark of the banished prince, cursed to chase the Avatar forever. But lately, I've realized I'm free to determine my own destiny, even if I'll never be free of my mark."_

"_Maybe you could be free of it."_

"_What?"_

"_I have healing abilities."_

"_It's a scar. It can't be healed."_

"_This is water from the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole. It has special properties so I've been saving it for something important. I don't know if it will work but…"_

_But what? What would have happened if she did use the water on him? Would he have crossed over, joined them? He was always chasing them, trying to capture the Avatar; she was his companion, trying to help him save the world. But they had a common enemy – Azula. Why did he choose to fight with her, not against her? If the water from the Spirit Oasis _had_ healed his scar, would he have possibly fought alongside her and Aang rather than fighting against them? Even if he had, would it have made any difference? Would things have gone differently? Or would everybody still be on the run from Azula?_

_She didn't know the answer; she was fairly certain nobody ever would, and dwelling on what might have been wasn't helping the situation._

"_I thought you had changed!"_

"_I have changed."_

_A silent sigh left her as the voices faded. The sharp, violent sound of lightning rang in her ears, followed by a faint image: Aang rising from the earth tent in the Avatar State and Azula stepping forward swiftly and pointing her fingers at him._

_And there was nothing she could do as Azula shot him down._

"My dear, are you all right?"

Her lungs felt squeezed; she was panting heavily, quickly, searching for cooler air, but it was too hot and stifling for her.

"I-I can't…I can't breathe," she gasped. Her voice was hoarse and sounded scratchy to her ears.

She heard a sound, then something was pulled off of her. She was hoisted up in a sitting position, grimaced. Her body was aching. She struggled to open her eyes as she felt cloth wiping her face.

"Well, I can most certainly conclude that you're getting better." It was an old woman's voice, strangely familiar like she'd been hearing it on and off for a long while. Katara sighed. She felt so tired.

"What…what happened?" she whispered. She opened her eyes and found herself staring at a large fire burning in a shallow pit dug into the ground of a stone and wood hut. There were a few cots in the building, bundles of dried plants hanging from the ceiling, bowls and pots stashed in a corner, and an old woman was hovering over her. The woman had heavy wrinkles that hid her eyes and near-white hair pulled into a bun at the base of her neck. She was holding a damp piece of cloth and wiping Katara's forehead.

"My name is Yun La. This is the Chen village, deep in the forest outside of Ba Sing Se's outer wall. You were sick, so your friends brought you here."

"The Chen…Ba Sing Se…Aang! My friend, the Avatar, is he all right? Is he okay? I…ah…" She pressed the palm of her hand to her left temple, grimacing at the pounding in her skull. The old woman, Yun La, pressed the cloth against her forehead.

"The Avatar is well, weak and weary but well. You did a good job healing him. You've saved the world's hope for peace; all we need now is to regroup and determine our next course of action. Your friends are planning with the villagers around the fall of Ba Sing Se now."

"They are? I see." Katara sighed, thought about her dream for a moment.

"_When you go back to the mortal world, keep doing what you are so good at doing. Help those who need it and keep fighting for the ones you love; the Fire Nation has to be stopped at all costs and you have a role to play in doing so. No matter how tired you are, you have to keep trying."_

She heard voices outside the hut, some familiar but many strange.

"…still locked away. He's to be sent back to the Fire Nation. Something about trials and traitors."

"Well, he is a traitor, after the way he went after Admiral Zhao…"

She looked at Yun La. "They're talking about Iroh."

The woman nodded. "We have someone within Ba Sing Se who's been keeping us informed for long time. We know what happened, my dear."

She nodded slowly, then turned her body, swung her legs over the side of the cot. That simple movement left her breathing heavily; Yun La quickly went to her side to help her stand.

"How long have I been sick?" Katara asked.

"At least a week. Your muscles will need to be excercised to restore the strength they have lost with disuse. A walk will help a bit, dear."

She took Katara's left arm and gently pulled her outside the hut. Katara gasped, then smiled as cool air hit her face. She could smell the forest; it permeated everywhere. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw other huts, small fires with large cut laws around them, and a crude stone wall apparently running along the circumference of the village. There were voices at her left hand; she turned and saw many people sitting around a rather large fire, many of them men. She recognized Aang, Sokka, Toph, the Earth King, and…was that Suki?

Yun La nodded when Katara looked at her, a question on her lips. "The men found her. So many horrible burns…but she is well now. She is very familiar with your companions."

Katara nodded. She had thought Yue had been referring to Sokka running into Suki on the way into Ba Sing Se when the Moon Spirit had mentioned the Kyoshi Warrior, but clearly the former princess had meant what had occured while she was ill. "She is. She's our friend…I'm glad she's all right, after what I found…back at Ba Sing Se…"

"…this family's just weird. The father wants to rule the world, the uncle is kinda crazy, the sister is a monster, the brother is a backstabber…"

Sokka was talking about Zuko. Fire Lord Ozai. Azula. Iroh. The Fire Nation's royal family.

"… the mother…I don't know. And I don't care-"

No, Sokka should care, Sokka should know. Sokka needed to know about what happened to Zuko's mother. She was the one nobody knew or talked about. She had vanished from everywhere except Zuko's memories. While mothers lost sons to the Fire Nation, Zuko lost his mother.

""The Fire Nation took their mother away," Katara said softly, weakly.

All eyes and attention turned quickly to her. Sokka's mouth fell open and Aang had jumped to his feet. Toph was grinning, as expected.

She took a deep breath and finished her thought. "Just like it took ours, Sokka. Just like our mother."

An uneasy silence followed. She felt Yun La let go of her arm and step back. Then Sokka leaped up.

"Katara!"

She was suddenly surrounded by everyone, Aang, Sokka, Toph, Suki, the Earth King; they were all hugging her, practically squeezing the air out of her.

"Back away, back away! She needs air, so shoo! Back to your meeting! I'm taking her for a walk to exercise her limbs. You can all talk to her later," Yun La exclaimed, prying them all off. Sokka glared at her, but the old woman was fiercely standing her ground and Suki slowly tugged him away. He stared at her for a moment longer, then allowed Suki to take him back to the meeting. Toph and the Earth King had sat back down with the men and had begun discussing the region and villages surrounding Ba Sing Se. Aang didn't go back to the gathering, though. He stood there, hands behind his back, staring down at the ground. She raised an eyebrow at his green and brown robes, then remembered the torn state of his clothes. If it weren't for the arrows on his head and hands, he might've passed as a generic Earth Kingdom boy.

"Aang," she called softly, then smiled when he looked up at her. His gray eyes were tired, weary. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," he admitted. "Disappointed with everything that happened in Ba Sing Se. But, at least you're awake."

She laughed at the huge grin on his face. It practically lit him up. "I know, and I'm glad. A hug?"

She opened her arms and he stepped forward, embraced her tightly. "I'm glad you're okay, Katara. We were so worried about you, especially Sokka. After I woke up, Toph and Kuei told me everything, mostly because Sokka was always sitting in front of Yun La's hut, waiting for you to wake up."

"Kuei?" Katara echoed as they pulled apart. "Who's Kuei?"

"The Earth King," Aang explained simply. "He doesn't want to be called the Earth King anymore, although the guys in this village still call him 'Your Majesty'. His real name's Kuei, and that's what he wants us to call him. He said…he said he wasn't the Earth King anymore, so why bother?"

"Oh…I see," Katara murmured, remembering what the Earth-Kuei said the night they fled Ba Sing Se.

"_The Earth Kingdom…has fallen."_

"And right now, we're planning what to do once we leave the Chen village. We've been here for over a week, and these are really nice people; Yun La's a healer, and she healed both of us…sort of. I mean, you did use that water on me, but I was still sick. And then you got sick, so the others found this village…but I think the Dai Li are onto us."

"The Dai Li?"

Aang nodded. Yun La sighed, and made to interrupt but stopped herself.

"The villagers have someone inside Ba Sing Se. I think he's in the Dai Li, because he knows _everything_. But one day he visited the village, and Yamu said the Dai Li were following him."

"Who's Yamu?"

"Oh, one of the earthbenders in the village. They protect this village, make sure nothing bad happens. He's like the leader."

"But now that the Dai Li work for Azula-"

"That's why we're leaving tomorrow. We were hoping you'd wake up but if you didn't, Appa would've carried you. You know what Azula's capable of…what she's like…"

Each time that name was spoken he grew more and more depressed. Katara sighed, ran a hand through her unbraided hair. She did know, all too well.

"So…that's basically what we're doing right now. We're trying to figure out where to go, because…there really is nowhere to go. The Earth Kingdom's gone, Katara; the Fire Nation's in control. We can't go to the North Pole or the South Pole, and I need a firebending teacher. We definitely won't find him there."

"But Jeong-Jeong's gone, Aang, and he was supposed to teach you firebending."

"I know. And now that I know…earthbending…I'm pretty sure he'll teach me when we find him…"

Katara sighed again. Aang didn't understand; Jeong-Jeong was wanted by the Fire Nation, and now that the Earth Kingdom is in the Fire Nation's control, there was no way the man was going to make himself known to anyone, just so that Aang could find him and learn firebending. He would remain hidden for as long as the Fire Nation ruled the Earth Kingdom, maybe until he dies.

"Aang, we won't be able to find Jeong-Jeong. Even if we tried, it might take most of the time between now and the solar eclipse to find him and then have him teach you how to firebend-wait, wait a minute."

Katara set her hands on Aang's shoulders and looked him in the eye. He stared back innocently. "What is it, Katara?"

"When did you decide to learn firebending again? Remember the last time? You got out of control, and you said you were never firebending again."

"I know…and I'm sorry about what happened…but see, I got older and I learned more. Jeong-Jeong was right when he said I needed to master waterbending and earthbending first, and I was too impatient anyways. Learning how to waterbend and earthbend kind of helped. And-and I think I'm ready, I really do."

Katara bit her lip. Something still seemed a little off. "I think there's more to this. Is there, Aang?"

"There is. When I was sick…I went to the Spirit World. Roku was there. He told me…he told me it was time to face my fear of fire…bending. He said I was being a fool that first time, but that was only the first time and everybody learns from their mistakes. He told me to master firebending, because that's the only way I can really become the Avatar. So I decided to find Jeong-Jeong. Not only that, Kuei's going to come with us and help us raise an army."

"An army?" So many things were happening all at once. She muttered bitter thanks to the spirits for making her sick; so much had happened since she fell ill and she practically missed all of it!

"Yeah. See, the Earth Kingdom's really big. The Fire Nation can't watch every village and every person, right? And Azula's gonna be busy controlling Ba Sing Se, and we all know how hard that is."

Katara nodded in agreement. Ba Sing Se, for all its order and class rings, was a chaotic city.

"So we're going to go find Jeong-Jeong, and raise an army. Kuei is still the Earth King, no matter what the Fire Nation says; he'll be able to find the support to take back Ba Sing Se, and help us attack the Fire Nation on the day of the black sun! How cool is that?"

"Very…cool, I guess." This actually was a sound plan. "But Aang, what if we don't find Jeong-Jeong?"

"Of course we'll find him-"

She shook her head, silencing him. "Aang, technically the Fire Nation now controls the Earth Kingdom. Jeong-Jeong's wanted by the Fire Nation. He's going to be in hiding, and I doubt we can find him in time."

"But Admiral Zhao found him-"

"That's Admiral Zhao. He was a bit crazy but he knew Jeong-Jeong. And he's dead. Nobody else knows him that well, maybe except Chey. But we don't know where Chey is, either."

Aang scratched his bald crown. "And we can't exactly find another firebender to teach me…"

"You need a master, Aang. Not just any firebender but a master. Like Jeong-Jeong. Like…"

It hit her. It apparently hit Aang, too, because he looked at her swiftly and said, "We can't get him out. None of us can just walk back into Ba Sing Se."

"But…you're right. We can't. There's no way we can get him out of there…but who else is there, Aang? Every other firebender is against us. And the best ones beside Jeong-Jeong and Iroh are…Azula and Zuko."

The Avatar sighed and nodded sadly. "Yeah…"

They stood there, all these facts sinking into their minds. Katara rubbed at her right temple. This was impossible, absolutely impossible.

"Great, we're done talking about how futile everything really is," Sokka declared as he strode over to them. "We heard every word you guys said. Isn't it great? We're all gonna die!"

Suki slapped him on the back of his head. "No we're not, silly. We just gotta try!"

"_Just keep trying, Katara."_

"Yue," Katara whispered, quickly looking up at the moon.

"W-what did you say?" her brother demanded, his voice growing faint.

"Yue. When I was sick, I saw her. She…she told me that no matter what happened, we have to keep trying. We're the only ones who can stop the Fire Nation, so no matter how impossible everything seems…"

"Well I'm not one to give up, no matter what anybody says," Toph declared stoutly, joining them. "We got a second chance when Katara healed Aang, so let's make the most of it."

"Well, we've finalized our plans," the Earth-Kuei added, walking over to them. Momo was sitting on his shoulder, chittering. Katara smiled at the lemur.

"Hey, Momo," she called out, and he leaped onto her shoulder.

"What are the plans, Kuei?" Sokka asked.

"Yamu and the others are going to spread the word around here. We're going out to find Aang a firebending teacher and find anyone, earthbender or soldier, to join us. We'll send word up to the North Pole, too. We could definitely use their help."

"And," Sokka added rather happily, "Yamu's going to personally find Dad and the other warriors, and tell them what we're going to do. He said they're camped somewhere south of Ba Sing Se, but since we don't have time, he's going to carry the word for us."

Katara nodded, then frowned. Dad…she hadn't seen Dad in a long while.

"He's said he's proud of you, Katara," Sokka input, apparently noticing her unhappy state. "He's proud of both of us. He's going to help us fight the Fire Nation, no matter what."

She smiled. "I know."

Someone tapped on her free shoulder. It was Yun La. She looked slightly peeved.

"I'm happy we've finalized our plans, but you need a walk. Now everybody, _shoo_!"

"Alright, alright, sheesh!" Sokka grumbled. "We'll just go…pack up…get everything we need…to kick Fire Nation butt…"

"You need some sleep," Suki said, patting him on the shoulder sympathetically. "Come on…"

Toph nodded in Katara's general direction, more towards Momo and Kuei. "'Night, Sugar Queen."

"Sugar Queen?" Yun La echoed as the young earthbender shuffled off towards the hut next to the one Sokka and Suki went into. Katara watched as Suki left the hut, then turn around to get caught in a kiss. She giggled, then looked at Yun La.

"Her nickname," Kuei explained amiably. He yawned, then adjusted his spectacles. "Glad to have you back, Katara. Good night."

She bowed to the man as he walked off. Momo chirped, then leaped onto Aang's head.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow," the young Avatar said. "Good night, Katara."

"Night, Aang," she said softly, and smiled as he trudged off, reaching up to scratch Momo on the head. She turned to the healer and her smile became confused. "What?"

Yun La shook her head as she smothered her own smile, then touched Katara's elbow to guide her towards what looked like the gates of the village. "Come. A good walk will loosen you up. You need it."

The forest was dark but the stars shone strongly. The crescent moon glowed softly, reminded her of her long dream and the way Yue shimmered in the sunlight. It was quiet, a change from the chaos she was used to. The wind was gentle and a few owls hooted high up in the trees.

Yun La was a few feet behind her, her arms behind her back, watching Katara as they walked around the village wall. The young waterbender noted how pristine and undisturbed everything was, from the dirt to the large bushes underneath the trees.

"Yamu and his men make sure there are no traces of people outside the village walls. After the Dai Li appeared in this part of the forest, we had to make sure," Yun La stated.

"They'll still see the wall," Katara replied.

"We're moving after you and your friends leave," the old woman explained. "We don't live in luxury; the men make sure they can hide the buildings and walls they raise. Your friends think leaving will protect us, but we know the Dai Li, and you know Princess Azula. Tomorrow, after you leave, we're leaving to make our way to another place in the forests. Xuan Ji already knows…"

"Xuan Ji?" Katara looked at the old woman curiously, noticing the fondness in Yun La's voice.

"He's my grandnephew, my older brother's grandson. His mother died not long after he was born, and his father went southeast when he was fourteen to join the army there. Nobody has heard back from him since. Chow Fei died two winters ago. As of now, I'm all he has left."

"Oh…is-is Xuan Ji a Dai Li agent?"

Yun La nodded. "He's been an agent for about five years."

So Aang was right about the informant. Did they fight him in the Dai Li headquarters under Lake Laogai?

"He said you and your friends are most impressive, as fighters and benders. He particularly liked the young man with the twin hooks, whatever they are-"

"Jet. The young man's name is Jet." She could picture the young rogue in her mind. She could still see the proud look in his face, the defiance in his eyes. She could feel his bullheaded determination to eliminate the Fire Nation, the blinding narrow-minded hatred that nearly killed an entire village one day so many months ago. "I haven't…seen him since Lake Laogai. Long Feng hurt him badly…I don't know what happened to him. Does…does Xuan Ji know?"

"He didn't say anymore about the young man or his two companions, only that they were a particularly fine trio. I'm…sorry, my dear."

Katara shook her head, then rubbed her eyes. They were beginning to water. "No, it's okay. It's just…so much happened…since my brother and I found Aang back at the South Pole. We were going fishing, and we got lost. We got thrown on some ice and we started arguing. I got so mad, my waterbending got out of control and I broke a huge iceberg near us, and then this huge ball of ice rose up from the sea. It was glowing…"

XXX

He knew his niece was crazy, ruthless, a near-perfect reflection of Ozai. He expected this particular treatment from her but still, it was difficult for him. He was most certainly not young, and his strength wasn't even half of what he had when he was in his prime. Everything had gone downhill since…the first time he came to Ba Sing Se.

_The wall had been besieged for weeks and weeks, and finally something had happened. The legendary outer wall of Ba Sing Se, capitol of the Earth Kingdom, had been breached. It wouldn't be long before they fortified the crack and sent in reconnaissance to clear the way for the main army. General Iroh, older son of Fire Lord Azulon, would soon be victorious, again. He wasn't called Dragon of the West for nothing._

_He smiled as he wrote a letter home to his brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and niece. Soon he would return home himself, with Lu-Ten and the glorious crown of the Earth Kingdom. Once that fell, the Northern Water Tribe wouldn't stand a chance._

He had believed the Fire Nation was invincible. It was a country made for war and victory, a ceaselessly marching army that mowed down everything in its path. It had wiped out the Air Nomads, cleared their lands north of the Fire Nation. It had encroached on the massive landmass that occupied the center of the earth. Lu-Ten had made sure the Southern Water Tribe was too disabled to fight.

And there was no Avatar to stop them.

Iroh sighed as he tried to settle into the corner of the prison cell. The walls were rough, cold, and the whole place was so damp he knew he wouldn't be able to get even a little fireball going. It was a horrid environment, and it left its impact on the other prisoners as expected; in other cells he could hear hoarse coughing and hacking.

A week ago the daily bowl of cold rice stopped coming and only a tin cup of tainted water was shoved into his cell from the little hatch near the bottom of the iron door. He tried to make the best of it but he could feel his energy fading fast from the lack of food, even faster from the lack of sun. He was a firebender and he needed the sun; without it he felt lifeless, an automaton devoid of life.

"_Father, I have returned from the South Pole."_

_General Iroh nodded as Lu-Ten straightened his back from the greeting bow. "Mmm…I heard you fought well, Lu-Ten. The other generals have only nice things to say about your work."_

"_Thank you, Father," the young man said with another bow. _

_General Iroh frowned and set down his cup of jasmine tea. There was something strange in the way his son carried himself, as if he suddenly had sacks of rice thrown over both shoulders. And his voice…so heavy…dejected…pained..._

"_Did something happen down there, Lu-Ten?" he probed, as he picked up his cup of tea and took a sip. He looked pointedly at his assistants; they immediately put down the scrolls they were shuffling and left the tent at the top of the hill. _

"_I…no, nothing, Father. Everything went as planned. The men weren't at the city when we attacked."_

"_Oh?" The tea cup set down on the map of Ba Sing Se on the table. _

"_We met some resistance, Father. A few older boys tried to fight us off but we apprehended them. Some we let go, to warn the women and children in the city to evacuate. Then we went in and destroyed the city."_

"_Good, good. So…what's the problem?"_

"_Um…Father, Grandfather Azulon sent other orders about the Southern Water Tribe city."_

_Both eyebrows shot up. "Did he now? That's strange…"_

"_He said we were to…kill anyone in our path as we took the city."_

_General Iroh stared at his son, suddenly realizing exactly what was troubling Lu-Ten. "Did-did you…"_

_Lu-Ten nodded reluctantly. "We waited as long as possible, then went in…but there were still so many people, Father. The Southern Water Tribe may be smaller than the Northern Water Tribe, and primitive, but they had a lot of people. I don't think even a third of them were out of the city when we attacked."_

"_Oh, by the spirits…" General Iroh hung his head. Fire Lord Azulon had lost nothing of himself since Iroh had taken charge of the war front. He knew as well as Iroh and all the other generals that if a people survived an attack, they could regroup, rebuild, and counter in force. Iroh didn't like killing innocent people, which was why he taught Lu-Ten to do exactly what he did with the older boys of the Water Tribe, but one could not simply ignore Fire Lord Azulon's orders, especially his oldest grandson and future heir to the throne._

"_I'm sorry, Father. I've failed you-"_

"_No, Lu-Ten. You did not. You did what you had to do."_

"_I should've…waited maybe a few more minutes-"_

"_What's passed is now the past. Look beyond that, Lu-Ten, but learn from what you've experienced. When you become the Fire Lord, keep this in mind when you rule."_

"_Yes, Father."_

"_Now…" General Iroh picked up his cup of tea and frowned. It had gone cold; he warmed up his hands and smiled as the tea started steaming again. "Something else is bothering you. What is it?"_

"_Father, I…I've been to the war front. I've killed other men, other benders, other soldiers. This…this was different. The people we attacked, they couldn't defend themselves. All they could do is run, or throw things at us. I was with the soldiers, disguised as one of them, fighting with them, seeing things I wish I never saw, hearing things I don't want to hear again, when…there was a waterbender in the tribe."_

"_Oh really?"_

"_I didn't think, Father. I…I attacked."_

_Lu-Ten pulled out one of the chairs standing haphazardly around the table, and sat down heavily. He pressed his hands into both temples. "She had a little girl with her, her daughter, I think."_

"_Lu-Ten, you did not-"_

"_I did. Father, I did." His son looked up at him, and General Iroh found fear in the dark amber eyes. It was a deep terror, far beyond the simple fear of dying in war, beyond losing the war, beyond anything. It was fear of himself. Lu-Ten was terrified of himself, of what he was capable of doing. "I killed the waterbender…in front of her daughter. What did I do, Father? What did I do?"_

_General Iroh sat there, the tea quite forgotten in his hands, as Lu-Ten covered his face with his hands and sobbed helplessly._

The violent clash of metal and metal jolted Iroh out of his doze. Blearily he looked up at the small window near the top of the door and saw a Dai Li agent peeking in on him. The gaze was stern and cold. Iroh shivered involuntarily, then pulled his knees up to his chest and stared at the opposite wall. Every crack, bump, and dip in each of the stones in the wall had become very familiar to him. The fact was depressing.

But not as depressing as the return of memories he had wished he would never have to think about again. He never the day where he would evaluate his life and wonder if he'd made a difference would come so soon.

That time had come soon for Iroh, much too soon. He didn't want to think about it, didn't want to relive those memories, but they had been relentless since his imprisonment.

A few nights ago he was thinking about his nephew. How much his nephew meant to him. How his nephew had replaced his son.

"_You're fishing for an octopus, my nephew. You need a tightly woven net, or he will squeeze through the tiniest hole and escape."_

"_I don't need your wisdom right now, Uncle."_

"_I'm sorry. I just nag you because…well…ever since I lost my son…"_

"_Uncle, you don't have to say it."_

"_I think of you as my own."_

"_I know, Uncle. We'll meet again…I have to hurry. I have the Avatar."_

"_Remember your breath of fire. It could save your life out there."_

"_I will."_

"_And put your hood up. Keep your ears warm."_

"_I'll be fine."_

To be honest, he had thought as he recalled the exchange, he didn't like having to hunt for the Avatar. He didn't like the idea of searching for the Avatar in the first place. The Avatar hadn't been spotted in a hundred years; what fool would think he'd still be out there? The Avatar was supposed to be reborn as an airbender, but the Air Nomads had all been killed, in a spectacular battle if his history was correct. The Fire Nation had been relentless ever since they were sure the greatest threat to their dominance had been eliminated. Iroh had thought nothing of it but…ever since Lu-Ten died…

Everything changed.

He kept seeing Zuko's face. It haunted him whenever he fell into a doze and the guards failed to notice and wake him. The sadness, the haunted gaze watched him every which way. He tried to force his mind back to happier days as he awaited his fate in this dank underworld, but he always saw his nephew.

"_You're not the man you used to be, Zuko. You are stronger and wiser and freer than you have _ever_ been. And now you have come to the crossroads of your destiny. It's time for you to choose. It's time for you to choose…good."_

_And yet, you've failed me, Nephew. _

"_Zuko, I am begging you. Look into your heart and see what it is you truly want."_

_And yet you chose your Father's love. You should know by now that you will never have it, and yet you still hope. You still have false hope. Why, Zuko, why?_

In the first days of his imprisonment he felt nothing but anger, fury at Zuko. He had felt this anger just once before, in the days after one of his generals came to him with the words that changed him forever.

"_General Iroh, Sir, I…I have news. Your son, Lu-Ten…he died, Sir. On the battle front. I'm sorry."_

In the days after he felt a fury within him, a kind of betrayal he wished he never felt. The Fire Nation, invincible, a machine of war and fire, had taken his only son away. Instead of glory and the Earth King's crown, he had a funeral and the end of his line.

_The Fire Nation took my son from me. Just like it took Ursa from Zuko. Just like it took all those sons and husbands, nephews and cousins, fathers and grandfathers, from those who love them. Just like it destroyed the Air Nomads and devastated the Southern Water Tribe. What has the Fire Nation done for a hundred years? What have _I_ done?_

The army had sat, milled around doing nothing for a week. Iroh, General Iroh, Dragon of the West, had no orders to give. The generals said nothing, whispered nothing, but stayed far away from the tent where Lu-Ten's body rested. For three days and three nights he sat staring at the body of his son, and for four days and four nights he sat on the ground of his own tent, trying to meditate, trying to control the wrath deep inside him.

"_General Raizon, we are leaving."_

"_S-sir?"_

"_Tell the army to pull out. We're going home."_

And his son had died with a guilty conscious, had been tormented ceaselessly in the nights leading up to his death on the battlefield. He had been dreaming ceaselessly of the burned body of the waterbender who had thrown her daughter aside to protect the little girl from his fireball. He had been afraid of the heartless state inside him.

The fury had simmered in Iroh, that same anger, whenever he recalled the despairing lost look in his nephew's eyes in the catacombs of old Ba Sing Se. Zuko was always lost, always confused, always in need of guidance. Without a goal, he was a ship without sails or engines, adrift in the lonely sea. Iroh had given him guidance for three years, had stood by his side, then was thrown aside as Azula entered the picture with seductive, empty promises.

Ozai would never forgive his son for the slight he committed against the Fire Lord during a War Council.

_Oh Ursa, if only you were here now to guide your son. He's as lost as ever without you. Not even I could save him from the Fire Nation._

"_I expected this kind of treachery from Uncle."_

Azula called him, labeled him, and now Iroh knew that he was a traitor. But he was a traitor to his brother, not to the Fire Nation. The Fire Lords were waging the war, and the Fire Nation went along willingly. Iroh doubt any of the previous Fire Lords knew how much the country suffered as they sent their men off to conquer the world. It was only a matter of time before disaster struck within the Fire Nation itself but…there was nothing he could do.

If he was correct, Ozai would demand him back in the Fire Nation to stand trial as a traitor. And traitors always die.

Violent banging in the distance pulled him from his thoughts and Iroh looked up at the window in the door to see the guards moving away. Low murmurs told him one of their prisoners was being rather rowdy. This was different; for the past week the dungeons had been rather…silent. Except for the two visits from Azula, nothing much occurred down here.

"…stupid boy should be grateful…"

"…mercy, not his friends…"

"…shut him up…"

"…others…"

The voices faded. Iroh sighed, shifted in his seat and leaned back until the top of his head touched the cold wall. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. His mind drifted again, but to no memory. He sank deep into his pondering, questions never asked or answered, wondering about the events taking place in the world beyond this prison cell.

What happened to Ba Sing Se now that Azula and Zuko were in control? He had guessed at the efficiency of the Dai Li and he was proven right during the early days of his imprisonment – almost daily agents dragged in men, many of them screaming their loyalty to the Earth King. A few pledged their lives to Long Feng. All had been silenced within two days.

There had been angry rumbles between the guards and agents about the unrest in Ba Sing Se. Apparently they had never seen this city in such turmoil before. Perhaps the sight of a huge monster flying over Ba Sing Se did that, as well as the refugees who were still pouring into Ba Sing Se, the last time Iroh checked. But that was before the prince and princess of the Fire Nation took over.

That was before Zuko _betrayed_ him. First the Fire Nation, now Zuko. What kind of luck did Iroh have to be hurt so badly by those he trusted?

"…stupid boy…"

The guard stationed in front of his cell returned, muttering angrily about one of the other prisoners. Iroh looked at the man but that look was ignored. He sighed; he wished there really was someone he could talk to. Going for more than a week without uttering a reasonable sentence was mind-blowing for him.

He shifted in his seat again, suddenly started wondering about food. When was his daily bowl of rice coming? He just started receiving his food again yesterday, for which he was thankful. Even this pathetic prison fare was comfort for him…

Strangely he started recalling the days after he and Zuko formally severed their ties to the Fire Nation and became refugees of the war. They had gone hungry, and he had to dance for a gold coin. He remembered the searing look Zuko gave him as he sat back down with the gold coin in his hand. To him it was the most beautiful thing in the world, and _he_ was the Fire Lord's older brother.

Zuko, however, couldn't imagine anything more vile and loathsome.

"_Zuko," Iroh had said over a bowl of steaming rice porridge and chicken that evening, "you should learn humility, especially in a situation like this. Deal with your surroundings and your situations accordingly; you are no longer the prince of the Fire Nation, so you must stop thinking like royalty, and start thinking like a refugee."_

Zuko didn't take to that very well. He nearly killed the next man to demand entertainment in exchange for the precious money, and he may have done it if Iroh hadn't stopped him.

But Iroh knew there was more to Zuko's actions than the young firebender let on. He wouldn't just attack men who _gave_ them money to _eat_. Zuko had said nothing when Iroh called out to the passerby, asking for spare coins, despite the obvious wound it was to his pride. But when people tried to make Iroh do foolish things to earn the coin…

_What does Zuko think of honor now? He has betrayed me, and all because he wants his honor back. He had three years to understand the true meaning of honor, and the moment Azula offers him 'honor', he goes for it. Why, Zuko, why?_

When there was nothing else to do his mind wandered, and somehow, while he was thinking of Zuko, his thoughts turned to the Avatar. What happened to that young boy? The waterbender had carried him out of the catacombs…then what? What now? Did she save the Avatar? Was he dead?

And what of their other companions, the boy with the boomerang and the young traveler, the blind earthbender? What happened to them? Did they make it out of Ba Sing Se alive? Did they leave Ba Sing Se at all?

What was this world coming to?

_There is always hope._

When did he say that? To whom? It was so long ago…was it his son? Zuko? The young traveler? A fellow general? A hapless soldier? Who was it?

But what did it matter? Those were his words. He said there was hope, but he was a liar, a hypocrite. There was no hope for him now. Zuko betrayed him, and Ozai would demand him back in the Fire Nation, where Iroh would die in disgrace as a traitor to the Fire Nation.

"…where is the damn food…"

Iroh's daily meal was late. Another blow. He bowed his head and took a long deep breath.

Perhaps he should meditate. He hadn't done so in a very long time.

The guard outside was pacing, grumbling and muttering incoherent words deep in his throat. Iroh watched him, then slowly pulled himself near the center of the room. He could never meditate properly with his back up against a wall. He straightened his back – a more difficult feat now that he hasn't been moving around as much – and closed his eyes, took several breaths that filled his lungs to full capacity, and slowly let the used air out.

"…hey, what in spirits are you…"

"…Her Highness ordered him arrested…"

"…what does it look like to you?"

"…what has he done wrong?"

"…you should know, didn't you read the orders, Dao?"

"Yeah, I read the orders! Spirits, did it have to be now?"

"Word came down a bit early. And he was in good position. It was now or never."

"Heard it myself. Methinks Her Highness is planning something big. Something about the Avatar. And he's the ticket to the boy."

"Spirits…he's my friend. I really don't think he's the-"

"He must be. We went back to his village but it disappeared. That just doesn't happen. Her Highness said there was a traitor in the village, someone close to the Avatar…"

"…not that kind of person. Spirits, _he's_ loyal to the Dai Li and…"

"…shady since the first day…"

"…yeah, remember the hawk…"

The heated exchange faded away as the three agents moved through the dungeons away from Iroh's cell. Once they were for sure out of earshot, Iroh sighed and let his tense body relax. He was just entering a peaceful state when those three men had to appear somewhere down the hall, arguing over some traitor and the Avatar…and whenever he thought of the Avatar, everything else followed.

It was all about the Avatar. Like it or not, Iroh knew that his life was tied to the life and fate of the Avatar. Zuko was tied to the Avatar. Even Azula and Ozai. They, more than anybody else save for the Avatar's friends and companions, were linked to the Avatar. Whatever happened to that young boy would have repercussions on them.

A thump in the distance jolted him again. Iroh sighed, too tired to be angry that he couldn't meditate. For the past week it was all silence, and now, when he had that brilliant idea to meditate everything away, there was noise to distract him.

A succession of thumps, though, was a different story. Iroh quickly swiveled his eyes to the window of the prison cell door, watching and wondering what the sounds meant.

His guard was yawning, staggering, _sleepy_. He was very, very, almost violently _sleepy_. Then the guard disappeared and Iroh heard a loud thump next to the door. And then it hit him.

_Someone's drugging the agents and guards down here!_

His body stiffened and Iroh started backing away into the wall. He felt uncomfortable in his vulnerable state but he didn't have much of a choice. Someone dangerous was out there, someone who obviously, easily, and efficiently dealt with the Dai Li.

Soon he heard more thumps, more bodies collapsing. Iroh puzzled over this, then realized the other prisoners down here were drugged as well. They were all being put to sleep by someone. Iroh shuddered. How was this possible? Was it some sort of gas? Smoke from burning herbs? Water? Food?

The guard said his food was late. Someone must be stashing something in the prison food. That would be relatively easy, but what about the Dai Li? How did the Dai Li get taken down?

Someone got into the palace kitchens. Who possessed the skills to do that? And for what reason? And where was his food?

A shuddering silence followed, but Iroh wasn't that deaf; he could hear the soft pitter-patter of muffled footsteps. They were coming towards _him_.

Someone was out to get him. Was Ozai so impatient that he sent an assassin to kill him? There was only one person who'd want Iroh dead _now_, and that was Ozai. Nobody else.

The footsteps became louder in the silence. Iroh stared at the window of the prison cell, held his breath at the sight of something white and pointy in the window. Then it disappeared. Something heavy was dragged somewhere away from the door, and the hatch at the bottom opened.

A tray and a bamboo container were slid into his cell. Iroh stared.

A hot bowl of rice with slices of fried meat, and a smaller dish of fermented vegetables occupied the dingy tray. Iroh felt his stomach growl, but reached for the bamboo container instead. It had a lid and he pulled it off; the aroma of tea rose with the steam in his face. Iroh jerked back in surprise, then smiled. Jasmine tea. How long has it been since-

Why did he have jasmine tea in a bamboo container in his hands? Why was there a tray full of fresh hot food in front of him? Who drugged all the Dai Li agents and prisoners in this dungeon? Who even had the guts to sneak into the Ba Sing Se palace and hide sleep-inducing somethings in all the food? What if his food was laced, too?

"It's not drugged."

A hoarse voice, strangely familiar. Iroh bent down and peered through the open hatch. He saw nothing but the sleeping guard, shoved against the wall opposite the cell.

_Do I trust this dangerous stranger? Or should I take his word for it? He did knock out everyone down here in the dungeons…no mean feat; I'm impressed…but what if Ozai sent him? What if there's poison in here? Then what do I do?_

Food and tea won. He took up the chopsticks sticking haphazardly in the bowl of rice and took a bite. All was well. Then he tested the tea…and spat it out.

_Too strong!_

And there was just one person in the entire world that he knew who made tea this strong.

"Uncle…I need your help. I think I made a mistake…and I'm trying to fix it."

The Blue Spirit stared down at him from the window at the top of the prison door.

**XXX**

Author's Endnote: I'm starting to slow down on the writing, thanks to the fun I have fanarting ATLA. Weeheeheee…..

Reviews are deeply appreciated.

Next chapter: How Zuko got down to the dungeons with a plan to free Iroh Part I.


	7. A Path to Redemption

Author's Note: What's even harder than trying to decide where to make the split into chapters 7 & 8 is what the hell to title this chapter. Ah, the joys of writing and all its little peculiars.

By the way, thanks for reading my story. I really appreciate the reviews.

Major thanks to heartsyhawk for beta-ing!

**XXX**

**Break the Chain**

**«7 – A Path to Redemption»**

The moment he woke up, all the pieces fell into place. The precision with which the plan formed in his mind frightened him. He wondered if he still had the fever.

"Good. Now that you're better, I can go back to my cousin and my shop. I expect she's been driving herself crazy wondering what's become of me," Madame Wu said snappishly as Zuko sat up and pushed the bed sheets away. "Should I expect a 'thank you', or will you always continue acting the part of the high and mighty prince you fashion yourself to be?"

"I _am_ a prince," Zuko replied wearily with mild indignation, not interested in looking at the older woman in the face. He turned his head away and stared at the bed, wondering idly what material the sheets were made of. Silk? "I'm Zuko, the crown prince of the Fire Nation."

"I know that. Your hand tells me that and more," she said. He heard her rising and knew she was going to leave. But he didn't understand what she meant by the comment about his hand.

"How does my hand tell you anything?" he asked. He could hear her moving things, probably her things.

"A person's hand tells his life story. I don't read just the lines but the texture, the size, the roughness…yours tell quite a story. Even though you are royalty, you have had a difficult life so far. This world has not been kind to you."

"No kidding." Zuko said point-blank as he turned away again, deliberately showing her the burned side of his face.

He stared at the right wall and the simple brush painting of a series of mountains and a waterfall hanging on it. "What lines are you talking about?"

"The creases and wrinkles in the palm of your hand tell your life's story. It tells me everything, from birth to death and everything in between. Would you like to hear?"

Zuko growled deep in his throat. He had always seen fortune-telling as nonsense. He was never much of a believer in fate and he found it impossible to comprehend that the lines on his palm could predict the future. That was ridiculous.

"I suppose not. But there's always a second chance for everything-"

"What did you say?"

He was out of his bed and in the woman's face so fast she staggered back and nearly knocked over a vase on the table behind her. He caught it quickly, but not before it emptied half the contents onto the floor. He ignored it as he set the black vase back on the table, then glared at Madame Wu.

"Say that again."

"I said there's always a second chance for everything, including free palm readings. Now unless you'd like me to read your palm, I do have things to pack."

He thought about it for a moment, then stepped back and nodded. He growled again as the woman grabbed his right hand and turned it over. She peered at the palm, running a finger along the creases imprinted in the skin. He shuddered at the touch but forced himself not to yank the hand away.

"…You've been through so much, but there are even more trying times yet to come." she murmured, half to herself. "You will be faced with difficult choices, and must answer difficult questions. You are an intricate part of this war, for your life is tied to the life of the Avatar-"

"No, really," Zuko snapped bitterly. Ever since the decree of banishment, his life and the Avatar's became connected, even if the Avatar wasn't alive for the first two years of his exile. "Does my palm say anything about the end of the war?"

He meant to sound sarcastic about his palm predicting his destiny but Madame Wu apparently didn't catch it. She shook her head as she yanked his hand up and towards her.

"No, but I can see that you will live a long life, war or no war. Well, that's a good sign. It says nothing of whether or not you will be Fire Lord, however. What a vague palm you are…"

Zuko rolled his eyes. Could this woman even _hear_ herself?

"…interesting, would you like to hear about your love life?"

Love life? Zuko jerked, hard enough to yank his hand away from her grasp. She looked up at him with a raised eyebrow but he was already shrinking away, backing into his bed. Love life? She can read _that_ in his palm? Ridiculous!

"I ask because ordinarily that is the area people are most concerned with," she said, tapping her fingers together as she scrutinized him. "Why not you? I already know of your run-ins with various women throughout your life so far, Prince Zuko."

"How about you go pack your things and leave my room?" he retorted, grasping his right wrist and holding his hand close, away from the woman. "I don't need your help anymore."

"Well…" Madame Wu literally sniffed in his direction and turned to finish packing an impressive array of dried plants. "In that case I suppose you would refuse my help regarding your uncle?"

His blood turned cold. Uncle…He stepped towards her. "What kind of help are you offering?"

She looked over her shoulder at him and raised an eyebrow. "You are actually asking for my help? Prince Zuko usually works alone-"

"I…I have a plan," he said, faltering as Madame Wu's words hit home. Why was he asking for her help? He never asked for anybody's help. He always did things by himself. He knew he could. He needed no help. He was perfectly capable of rescuing Uncle on his own.

There were just some things he didn't know, and he was sure Madame Wu could inform him.

"I…" Zuko hesitated again, then decided to push forward. "I need to know what kinds of plants and herbs put people to sleep, for a long time."

The smile on Madame Wu's face was grotesque but a smile nonetheless. "Is that what you want to know? Well, let me show you….this is a swamp rose…"

XXX

"How many healers did you take off the streets?" Azula asked. Boredom laced her voice.

Ty Lee was busy doing flips along the circumference of the throne room. Mai was sitting at the bottom stairs of the platform, sharpening one of her daggers. The Dai Li agents standing behind Long Feng were eyeing the moody girl nervously; they had seen her on the training grounds flinging those things at all kinds of targets – stationary and in motion. The day Azula requested several prisoners be sent to the training grounds…

"Four," Long Feng said coolly.

"Not too hard to handle, I assume," the Fire Nation princess mused. "I want you to…use your methods on them all before releasing them back onto the streets. I don't want any sort of word to spread about my brother's…condition."

"As you wish, Princess Azula," Long Feng said evenly. He was one of the very few in the palace now that refused to call her 'Your Highness'. Not that she cared; she knew Long Feng was used to being in the power position and he'd be the very last person to call her by any title other than the one with her name included.

_Too bad_, she thought. If all went well, he'll be calling her 'Your Highness' by the time all this ends, or perhaps an even loftier title…

_Let's not go there yet_, she berated herself. Everything was going according to plan so far, but so much more had to be done before she could allot that title to herself. One of the things that had to be taken care of was her older brother, Zuko.

She frowned. Zuko was a major problem. His loyalty was still in question, but she cared less about his loyalty than other things, one of them being his function, his place in her plans. He had no such place. He was nothing to her now. She had gotten what she needed from him, and now…he was a liability, an extra person tagging along, and a potentially dangerous loose canon. It just wasn't that easy getting rid of him.

Still, if the specified Dai Li agents stuck to her orders…too bad Zuko suddenly got sick. She would have gotten rid of him much sooner if he hadn't. She would have been spared a lot time and trouble…and the Avatar would've been in her grasp by now. Now she had to use some of the agents to 're-stabilize' the healers before releasing them back into the streets. And more were needed to help Mai and Ty Lee escort her uncle down south to the seaside docks, where a Fire Nation ship would be waiting to take him back to the Fire Nation. Soldiers from the regular army would be tagging along, too, but she trusted Mai, Ty Lee, and the Dai Li with this task a lot more than the army. And with tracking down the Avatar. The agents were going to be spread thin. And she needed the trusted few to follow her orders _exactly_-

"Princess Azula?" Long Feng said, snapping her train of thought off. She slammed back down into reality, glared at Long Feng for daring to interrupt her. "Have you…any other orders?"

She thought for a moment. "Yes, I do in fact have orders. Arrest Xuan Ji, now."

"Surely you don't think it's too early-"

"My father wants my uncle back to stand for trial, and I plan to send him in two days. I want Xuan Ji arrested before I send the agents to escort him out of Ba Sing Se. Xuan Ji needs to be made an example of; I won't have traitors or hesitant men within the ranks."

The two agents with Long Feng glanced at each other quickly, but Long Feng only raised an eyebrow. She could see the cogs working furiously behind his emotionless eyes. "I suppose you have something else in mind, Princess Azula?"

"_That_ is none of your business. And I don't have all day," she said coldly. "There are things I need to discuss with Mai and Ty Lee…_in private_. Tell the Dai Li to prepare themselves. I want the healers out by the end of today, Uncle is leaving in two, and the hunt for the Avatar in three. My brother needs his rest, and he will be ready in three days to accompany the Dai Li."

"I see. Very well, Princess Azula," Long Feng said and gave a short bow. He and the two agents with him made their exit through the side door. Azula sighed, and slumped in the throne. She was getting bored and tired of being in charge. She needed a break.

"So, 'Zula, what do you have in mind for us?" Ty Lee asked cheerfully as she followed her last cartwheel with a graceful somersault. She landed perfectly on her toes.

"Well, I was going to have you escort my uncle down to the docks, then come back here," Azula began, when one of her personal agents, Gao, appeared. He gave a short flustered bow as she sat up quickly. She was irritated but kept her temper in check. "What is it?"

"Your Highness…I'm just here to inform you…he's left the palace…"

"Did he?" Azula raised an eyebrow. _Interesting…wonder what he plans to do outside the palace._ "Then follow him. I want to know what business he has outside the palace."

"Yes, Your Highness…" Gao bowed and quickly left the throne room.

Mai sighed as she raised her right arm, then threw a dagger into the pillar to her right. "So…when are you going to change your title?"

Azula smiled. "As soon as I'm ready…there's a lot of preparing to do."

If she could read Zuko like a scroll, then she knew exactly what she needed to do. One of them involved contacting a trusted Fire Nation general, or anyone of high rank from the Fire Nation who'd give his loyalty to her without breaking a sweat.

"I wish I could go hunting for the Avatar," Ty Lee declared as she gracefully spun across the floor. "I bet _he's_ gonna be there."

"He?" Azula looked to Mai for an explanation.

The girl sighed. "She's talking about the boomerang guy. She thinks he's…ugh…cute."

"Don't you think so?" Ty Lee asked. A sly grin flashed across her face. "Oh wait, of course you don't. You're still crushing on Zuko-"

"No I'm not," Mai countered. For once her voice had some emotion in it.

Azula smiled. Oh this was just too funny. She still couldn't understand what it was Mai saw in her older brother. He was…a pathetic person, always looking for Father's love, always talking about honor, hopeless when it came to firebending…he was an utterly pathetic _thing_. She was embarrassed to have him as a sibling.

_Too bad he doesn't know_, she thought smugly. She reached up and pressed against the folded paper tucked in the folds of her tunic. It was a letter sent from the Fire Nation by Fire Lord Ozai's hand a few days ago. _Of course, if he did know…_

She mulled over the praise in the letter, the approving words written by her father's hand, a brief congratulations for giving the Fire Nation full dominion over the Earth Kingdom. A smile crept across her lips as she remembered the second paper, the official one marked with a stamp in red wax laced with gold foil. It was an official document, probably the most important one she had ever laid eyes upon, let alone held. It was an exclamation point on the whole reason her father ordered her to leave the Fire Nation and capture the Avatar, among other things like conquering the Earth Kingdom and bringing back her uncle and brother in chains.

_Father is more than angry with you, Zuzu_, she thought lovingly as she pulled out the document and unfolded it. It took her a while to work through all the noble-sounding formal words and outdated style but in short its purpose made up for the months she spent chasing after two different groups of people all over the Earth Kingdom.

Whatever hope Zuko had of being restoring his honor, his throne, and his place in the Fire Nation was lost, and Azula was now the heiress of the Fire Nation, Fire Lord Ozai's successor. She had all the rights in the world to eliminate her brother from the war…even the world.

And she wasn't going to hesitate exercising that power.

XXX

Zuko found it bizarre that it was so much harder sneaking down to the lower rings than he thought. Given the lack of chaos in the middle and upper rings, he'd expect it to be so easy snooping around, but he underestimated the upper and middle classes' desire for security. The Dai Li and regular police were _everywhere_.

And he had to be careful not to drop on anyone's head when hopping over the dividing walls. Zuko almost welcomed the chaos of the lower rings when he hopped over the last wall and fell into a wagon of cabbages.

"My cabbages!" a scruffy middle-aged man shrieked as he burst out of the wagon, overturning it and sending the green vegetables rolling down the street. He stared at the man, raised his good eyebrow as the man grabbed at his head and cried in anguish as the bustling street squashed the cabbages underfoot.

Unfortunately, not even the wilderness that was the lower rings could conceal Zuko. The seller's outrage reached the ears of two guards lounging outside a rickety tea shop squashed between a laundry house and a tailor's store. Zuko froze, then pulled his wide-brimmed straw hat down hard over the left side of his face as the guards craned their necks towards the cabbage man and him.

"What's the problem there, old man?" one of the guards called out. The other set down his chipped tea cup and glared in Zuko's direction.

"This-this man dropped right out of the sky and-and DESTROYED MY CABBAGES!" the man screamed.

It was terrible misfortune for both Zuko and the cabbage seller; the guards were much more interested in Zuko and how he fell out of the sky than the fact he had pretty much demolished the poor man's property.

"Fell out of the sky, he says?" the other guard mused. "What say you, Chou?"

"I say this merits some serious questioning, Sei," Chou remarked. "Finally. It's about time we earn our full pay…"

Zuko swallowed as the two men left their seats outside the tea house and headed towards him, one picking up a rusty glaive leaning against his chair. This was _not_ how things were supposed to happen. He was supposed to sneak into the lower rings and blend in with the people, buy what he needed, and hop the walls – somehow – back to the palace. He was not supposed to attract any attention, at all. Prince Zuko did not wander amongst the lowlifes, the peasants, and the refugees. He did not go around hopping over the dividing walls. He was supposed to be back at the palace, answering to Azula's beck and call.

She was, after all, in charge of the entire city and everyone within the outer walls.

"Hey you!" Chou shouted. Zuko noticed people were starting to back away from him, Chou, Sei, and the cabbage seller. That was a very bad sign. "You with the hat. Take it off your head!"

"Yeah, do what he says, you sneaky lowlife!" Sei added.

Wrong words. Zuko bit his lips to hold back a feral snarl. Lowlife? This pathetic, cheap guard dares call _him_ a _lowlife_? He ought to pay for his impudence! Zuko clenched his palms, felt them grow hot.

"Did you hear what I said?" Chou snarled. "Take off that infernal hat!"

"Do what he says," Sei said, echoing what he just said, "or we're taking you to the station."

He did not need to deal with this! The longer the delay, the more his plan would be thrown off course. He lowered his body slowly as he felt his muscles tense. If he had to, he'll fight them both and toss them somewhere. He gritted his teeth in irritation. He had to suppress the urge to throw the man called Sei against the wall, unable to believe that this impudent peasant had dared call him a sneaky lowlife!

_Idiot, what are you doing? You can't firebend, for one, you don't have any weapons on you, and you can't fight them out here. Everyone will see, and if you're really unlucky, someone will identify you. Then what? Then what do you do? Just throw your plans into the wind because some guy called you a lowlife?_

He must be dreaming; his mind was starting to sound like Uncle.

"Damn it," he growled under his breath. He had just one real option now, and he hoped the streets were still brimming full of people. And…yes, they were. He slowly stepped towards the two guards, bringing him closer to the street.

"What are you doing?"

"Don't move!"

_Go!_

He whirled on his heels and dashed down the street, throwing his body into the crowds and forcing his way through. Behind him the two guards Chou and Sei were shouting obscenities as they followed, and the cabbage seller was sobbing something about 'cabbage haters'.

People yelled and swore as he barreled through the crowd, knocking baskets out of women's hands, jostling men into stands as he tried to shake off the two guards; he leaped over a cart full of trinkets, sailing high over the elderly female merchant, and landed on his feet with a painful jolt. Swearing under his breath, he took off again. He cursed the illness which had robbed him of strength, agility, and speed. This was probably not the best way to regain the skills and exercise them back to their previous level, but it wasn't like he had any choice.

"Stop that man!" Chou shouted.

"You heard what he said! Stop him!"

But the people simply ignored the guards or dove into the stores and alleys to avoid the chase – the alleys! Zuko went straight for one of the busiest places in the lower rings, the marketplace. With luck, there would be far too many people for the guards to sort through, he'd be able to slip away into one of the alleys, and he'll be able to finish up the next step in his plan. On the downside, there might be too many people and he might not be able to make it through in time. That was a disaster he wanted to avoid at all costs, and that gave him a fresh burst of energy.

He dashed down the streets, and found the marketplace exactly as he imagined it – very, very busy. He didn't hesitate and dove right in. He looked over his shoulder only once; Chou and Sei were yelling at the people to move but they were mostly ignored. He snorted; these two men had all the authority of the law and nobody bothered to pay any attention. Every single person here was breaking the law by helping him escape them. Apparently once that boy with the wide-brimmed straw hat scrambled out of their way, they didn't care to pay him any more attention, even if it were two guards yelling to stop him. He wasn't a threat to their lives…although the cabbage seller would definitely beg to defer.

Zuko nearly overturned a stand full of melons in his haste to reach one of the darker alleys, which he had discovered when he was still using the false identity of Lee and working in a shabby tea shop somewhere down the street. As he entered the darkness, his heart rate slowed, his ragged breathing eased, and an unsettling calm entered him. He came to a standstill, then went to the wall of one of the apartments that made up the alley. He leaned against it, taking in big gulps of air. He had a nasty cramp, his ankles were still jarring from that near-flawless leap over the trinkets stand, and to top it off, the guards in the lower ring would still be searching for anyone who looked remotely like him.

And yet somehow he had to find everything on the list Madame Wu had prepared for him, sneak back into the palace, and find his way to the kitchens without the Dai Li, servants, Mai, Ty Lee, Long Feng, or Azula knowing he'd been gone at all.

_If only I had that mask!_ Zuko thought bitterly, thinking about the Blue Spirit mask that one Dai Li agent – Dao, was it? – was waving around down at the dungeons. _My problems keep compounding, which is the last thing I need happening_-

His good eye narrowed at the sight of two shoes on the ground in front of him. He stared at the shoes, then realized that there weren't shoes anywhere in this alley, dark and cluttered with junk, when he first ran into it for sanctuary. And the way they sat there on the ground, slightly pointed tips pointing right at him…

He raised his head ever so slowly, his breath catching in his throat.

_Oh no…_

He caught a glimpse of grayish green eyes before Jin slapped him in the face.

XXX

_I knew nothing good would come out of this_, Madame Wu grumbled as she followed two middle-aged women down the hall. They themselves were being led by two Dai Li agents. Behind her was a younger woman, and behind them were two more agents. These silent stony-faced men were quite intimidating but Madame Wu was already scoffing at them.

_That pup will drink himself to death in a few winters_, she mused at the back of the scrawnier-looking agent. _And that one…oh dear, he won't last the summer. Pity…_

She eventually laid off predicting deaths all around the palace, and drifted back to her original train of thought: there never was anything good coming out of her being dragged into the palace to heal the Fire Nation princess's older brother. In fact, she had known nothing good would come out of her visiting Ba Sing Se this late in spring, but a sheep-pig bone she had tossed into the fire urged her to go, vaguely informing her that her business in the great walled city would affect the whole world, not just herself.

She'd already been in touch with the powers that would move the world. Why not do a little something herself, help free the world from the Fire Nation's grasp? But did that mean healing the scarred prince of the enemy? In a way, was she betraying her own purpose?

Of course not! She was a fortune teller – and a healer – and she knew that even if it seemed like a betrayal, it was not. Fortunetellers stood outside the realm of dichotomy; they walked the gray where all fates were told and all destinies were decoded, regardless of war and peace. She didn't have to look that closely into the cracks to know that there was a greater purpose beyond her answering her cousin's call into the city. She just had to suffer through the consequences before watching the results at play.

Unfortunately she had no idea what these consequences were, and she had a horrid feeling she was about to find out.

"This way," the taller more broadly built Dai Li agent in front said gruffly. He pointed to a rough-hewn stone door at the end of the hall.

Madame Wu rubbed her free hand on her other arm. This part of the palace, she decided, was not meant for just anyone. It was undecorated, the walls unpainted, the floor cobblestone. The air was chilly and stale. She already decided that this couldn't be the dungeons, because why would the healers need to be imprisoned? She thought over every possible reason to believe that she and the other healers had wronged someone, but they had done nothing wrong. They were simply following orders.

Then what was this place? She didn't read up on this place when deciphering her future.

_Maybe that boy was right_, she thought wryly of the young teenager who so vehemently denied the powers of fortunetelling. _I put too much faith in what I read in bones and palms…though they do tell such fascinating stories…_

Her thoughts fled back to the prince she healed, the one who had crashed into her village astride that nasty creature, the one they called Zuko. He had a fascinating palm, but it would not speak to her; she had to squeeze out the meanings to try and decipher his _possible_ future.

_A long life…which means he may very well live beyond this war…if this war does end with the Avatar. He stands between what is right and what is wrong, and moves in a haze, a world of gray. He's made so many mistakes, but he'd better stop or it'll be the end of him. He is loyal to his nation, but who is he really loyal to, the Fire Lord or the Fire Nation's people? Or the Dragon of the West, perhaps? He's hurt so many people…soon he will discover this. But whether or not he makes amends is up to him. _

And, of course, there was his love life. It was barely there, but she knew where to find love lines, in bones and tea leaves, in palms and faces, in the archaic method of reading the guts of the sheep-pigs. Everyone who had approached her for a reading wanted to know about their love lives, especially the Avatar's female companion.

Madame Wu scowled at the thought while the two agents at the head pulled open the heavy stone door without even touching it. That girl was the most persistent she'd encountered in years. Madame Wu had to resort to lying through her teeth to satisfy the girl's desire to know who she'd marry and what kind of family she'd raise. To be honest, she didn't know anything beyond the fact the girl would marry a 'powerful bender'. That was for certain, and the girl wasn't satisfied with that.

_Some people put too much on their love lives_, Madame Wu thought, paying no attention to where she was going. Just follow the woman in front of her, just follow… _This prince doesn't seem to care at all. But I know, Prince Zuko. I know what you've gone through and what's in store for you. The women you've hurt in your seventeen years of existence will demand explanations, forgiveness, and you ought to give them that, if nothing else. But perhaps…you will meet someone, and that someone will be your guide, your companion, and you will find what you lost. A happy ending for one who's suffered too much in such a short span of-_

"This way." Something prodded at her elbow and Madame Wu grumbled as her train of thought snapped. Then she blinked and stared.

_What was this place?_

"…my name is JuDee. Welcome to Ba Sing Se…"

A million young female voices chorusing the same lines. The fortuneteller looked around, but could only see what was lit by the many torches lit and hanging from iron racks on the dark stone walls.

"In here," the Dai Li agent who was pushing her forward ordered. Madame Wu suddenly realized that while she had been walking, the other women and the two agents leading them all had disappeared. She looked over her shoulder. Only one was following her now, an agent with a sallow face.

_Oh, you'll live a very long life, with much regret and little rejoicing._

He suddenly grabbed her by the elbow and thrust a hand out at the nearest door in a series down along the hall. It slid open and the agent shoved her into darkness.

A small candle was lit and Madame Wu stared in horror at the emotionless face staring at her; the light cast deep shadows on the gaunt face, making him demon-like.

"You will repeat every word I say until I order you to stop…"

The small orange firelight was cheerful, friendly, fuzzy, drowsy…

XXX

In the seconds after her hand connected to his cheek, every single thing that happened to him flashed in his mind in reverse.

The wretched sickness, his betrayal of Uncle and the Avatar and the battle in the city's catacombs, that horrid illness, finding the Avatar's pet bison, Jin, the prospect of being a tea server for the rest of his life, Jet…the ostrich horse, Song, Uncle eating the wrong plants, the fight on Azula's ship,…braving the blizzard and the icy waters of the North Pole to capture the Avatar after the ordeal on his destroyed ship…sailing through the ice straight into the heart of the small village, spotting the flare in the distance through the ice and snow…the disfiguring Agni Kai, the fatal mistake at the war council…Mother and Lu-Ten vanishing from the face of the earth…being born…

"_My father said she was born lucky. He said I was lucky to be born."_

Why did everything have to happen to him?

"I-I can't believe you!" Jin breathed, her breath hot against his face. She was staring at him, her angry, narrowed eyes were boring into him, but he kept his stubbornly on the ground while rubbing his bruised cheek. "How dare you show your face here?! You-you-you-you lied to me! You lied to me, Lee-or should I say, _Prince Zuko-_"

"Don't say that here," he said dully, cutting her off. "I'm not supposed to be here-"

"I should imagine," she interjected, taking to turn to cut _him_ off. "I heard the commotion. The cabbage seller, yelling about _someone_ who jumped the wall and landed in his produce. I wouldn't have cared if he didn't shout that _someone_ had a _scar_ of sorts on his _face_. Explain that to me, L-Zuko. Explain why you lied to me!"

Anger laced with pain, it was the most frightening emotion of all. He didn't dare answer; no, he was actually scared, very scared. If he opened his mouth and said the wrong thing…

_What am I supposed to say? She knows who I am, and not just because of…_

"You were there," he murmured. "You were there when Azula opened up the rings, so everyone could hear her pronounce herself ruler of Ba Sing Se."

"The refugees aren't all that stupid," Jin stated. "Someone said he saw you last year, rampaging through cities, towns, villages, in search of someone. He said you were trying to capture the Avatar. Is that why you came to Ba Sing Se? Is that it? And you-you led me on, just to pass off as a refugee? You were planning this with your sister, weren't you? Of course you were; how else did all of this happen? The refugees have been spilling it all ever since that day, and nobody's been holding them back, not this time, not like before! _What is going on here?_"

_Azula nor Long Feng is _that_ sloppy. They're obviously scheming, planning something. But what?_ "I _never_ work with my sister. We are nothing alike."

"Then why were you standing with her that day, while she said Ba Sing Se was forever safe from the war, while these refugees keep materializing, talking about losing their homes and lives, trying to start a new one in an overcrowded city-"

"That's why we were here," Zuko whispered. Starting a new life; that was Uncle's hope after they formerly severed their ties from the Fire Nation. They had come to Ba Sing Se to start a new life, with the only problems being Zuko's refusal to live out the rest of his days serving tea, Uncle's rising reputation, the coincidence with the arrival of the Avatar and his companions, and his sister's plot to take over the Earth Kingdom.

"Here for what?" Jin backed off. Arms akimbo, she stared at him, skeptically, almost accusingly. He considered her question.

"Here…to start a new life," he said slowly. "A…second chance. And I blew it. I blew it, and I'm trying to fix it…"

Like it or not, he could hear the despair seeping into his cool, controlled voice.

"Your uncle, where's your uncle?" Jin suddenly asked. She heard the 'we'. "Where's Mushi?"

"His name is Iroh," Zuko muttered. He saw her feet step back, then again, and again.

"I-Iroh? _General_ Iroh? Dragon of the West? No…that's impossible. That can't be the same man!"

Zuko looked up at her horrified face, and realized that she wasn't as ignorant as he assumed her to be. Of course everyone who'd been living in Ba Sing Se for more than six years would know of the six hundred days-siege of the city.

"You're lying," Jin hissed. "That can't be General Iroh! What's he doing here, of all places? Why'd he come back?"

"He…I can't explain. It's too complicated."

"Complicated? I have the right to know what's going on, _Prince Zuko_. You have no idea how I felt when I found out who you really are. Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, who's been traveling with the man who held my city, my _home_, hostage for six hundred days, snooping around a tea shop, leading people on, finding out and searching for the Avatar, our last hope for some peace, the person I…if you don't tell me, I will let everybody out there know who's here in their midst!"

She gestured wildly in the direction of the marketplace; her green eyes were afire with emotion. Zuko hissed at the threat. "You'll do no such thing!"

"You can't order me around. This isn't the Fire Nation," Jin retorted, crossing her arms tightly over her chest. "So, what will it be? Spill your story, or I'll spill you."

_This isn't the Jin I somewhat know…what made her snap?_ Zuko wracked his brain trying to figure out why this person he knew so little of cared so much about who he was and why he was here. _Long Feng and the Dai Li's been suppressing all information and talk about the war, so she'd know not to push it…it had nothing to do with her while she lived in here, so she shouldn't care about the war. So what is it…oh._

The fountain. The lights. The kiss.

_Oh. That. That's why._

Suddenly he felt his face burn, and hastily turned his head away. Now this was very awkward. He felt vulnerable, almost naked; Jin had done to him what no one else had dared to do before, had made herself vulnerable at that moment, and because of that he owed her. When she kissed him, she pushed down her last barriers, and then he rejected her, ran away from her. Worse, she now knows he was the prince of the nation that ravaged Ba Sing Se during the two-year siege and was currently trying to conquer the world. Jin had all the rights in the world to be very, very angry at him. He was surprised she hadn't turned him over to the guards yet.

What should he do?

_Uncle would say I should apologize to her, for hiding my identity and hurting her. It would be the honorable thing to do. But how do I do that? Men I can handle. Ships, battles, benders, the Avatar, I can handle them all. But…what do I do with girls? What do I do with _her

He looked at Jin then, cocked his head to the side and studied her. She was staring rather fiercely at the ground, her arms pressing against her chest. She looked…sad. Not angry, but sad. Okay, a bit angry, the way she's biting her lip…she was a pretty girl, and kind, but she was something quite different when angry…

_Maybe I should tell her some things…would that help? Would that…get rid of the anger?_

"My…my uncle, he's…my sister's holding him prisoner," he mumbled, turning his head away again as he spoke. His eyes, though, swiveled to watch her reaction.

"What?" Jin hadn't heard correctly. Her eyes turned to him.

"My sister, Azula," Zuko clarified. "She's holding Iroh prisoner. He's leaving in a few days. He's to be sent back to the Fire Nation to…to stand trial."

"Why? He's General Iroh. He's from the Fire Nation, isn't he?"

He shook his head. "Uncle did things…that my father disagreed on-" disagreeing was putting it mildly "-so he's to stand trial. And most likely, he'll be found guilty and…sentenced to death-"

Jin gasped sharply. "What? No…how could they? He's such a sweet man…as Mushi, that is. Can't you stop that from happening?"

He shook his head. Ridiculous. "My father's word is law, and we already have laws regarding traitors to the Fire Nation. I have no power, not there and not here. My sister and Long Feng are the ones in charge. I'm…just here…"

That was a disconcerting thought. What was the whole point of him being here? He turned on his uncle to regain the honor and throne he lost, to finally earn his father's love and approval, but now that his sister managed to take over Ba Sing Se – and the Earth Kingdom – he's been doing nothing but being a sitting turtle-duck. He had agreed to go hunt the Avatar with the Dai Li, but was that his only purpose? Was he forever hunting the Avatar? Forever following the orders of authority? And while he was off Uncle would leave, disappear from his life. Then there would be no one left, no one who cared for Zuko. His uncle was the last one.

There was Jin. He looked at the girl fully, but she didn't notice; her gaze had dropped, her head cocked towards him, waiting for him to continue. She cared for him, didn't she? But she was, and this was stating it as it is, a peasant. She really was. And as a peasant, she had nowhere to go. Her place was here. He knew she would never leave Ba Sing Se; Ba Sing Se was her beginning, middle, and end. And he couldn't afford to stay in Ba Sing Se with her forever. He couldn't stand Ba Sing Se anyways.

Staying with her would jeopardize her safety, he thought. Then he stopped thinking and went back to what had just popped up in his mind. Jeopardize her safety? When did he care that much for another person, let alone her? Li was one thing – he now felt miserable thinking about that optimistic and opportunistic young boy, and his strangely hurtful words – but Jin was…he didn't know how to put it…

"Zuko? Jin called out. "Zuko?"

He shook his head, blinked rapidly. "I was just…thinking."

"About what?"

_About whether or not you were the only one other than my Uncle to care about me._ "About how to get my uncle out of prison and away from Azula."

"You want Iroh away from Princess Azula…you have a plan?" Jin prodded.

"I-uh-well, it's a bit complicated," he admitted. "But it's something. It's all I've got."

"Uh huh…" Jin nodded thoughtfully. "Is that why you're down here? That's why you hopped the wall?"

"I…" _Those walls were a nightmare to climb and jump over. _He was lucky he didn't miscalculate something and break a bone"I need to find some plants, the medicinal kind. I got a list from a healer back at the palace, and I need them tonight, before the prisoners and guards in the dungeons receive their dinners."

"You're going to poison the food?"

Zuko scowled at the horrified look on her face.

"I need to talk to my uncle, without anybody knowing or hearing anything. I need to have this done; there's no other way. The stuff I'm going to use won't hurt anybody, it will just give me time to talk to my uncle without anyone overhearing." Unconsciously he started pacing back and forth across the alleyway, falling back to a habit he developed during his time on the seas. "But now I can't just walk out there and get what I need. People will recognize me."

He stood still, facing the adjacent apartment building, when he felt a soft pressure on his shoulder. He turned and looked down, saw a hand gently gripping his shoulder. He followed the arm to Jin's concerned and sympathetic face.

"I'm sorry…Zuko. I don't know your story, or why Iroh's here, and Lee…but Mushi was a good man. He doesn't deserve this. I… I want to help you."

"H-help me? Why? After everything I did to you, you want to help me?" he exclaimed. What? What is she doing? What is she saying? Why is she offering to help him? "You should hate me, Jin! I'm your enemy…I've hurt you…I don't deserve it. I have to find another way-"

"I don't _hate_ you, Zuko," Jin said quietly. "I…I'm angry, hurt, but I don't hate you. I don't hate you…Lee or Zuko, whichever you are. Let me help you."

She squeezed his shoulder and smiled.

"I…" Words failed him. He cleared his throat and tore his eyes away from her. "I-I need these…particular..."

**XXX**

Author's Endnote: Chapter 8 is FRIGGIN' long. You're welcome for the warning.

Reviews are deeply appreciated.

Next chapter: How Zuko got down to the dungeons with a plan to free Iroh Part II.


	8. A Second Chance

Author's Note: This is a massive chapter. In the 8.5 font, it's pretty long, but 12 font? Ha! Anyways, there's a lot going on in this chapter, hence the length. Enjoy!

Major thanks to heartsyhawk for beta-ing!

**XXX**

**Break the Chain**

**«8 – A Second Chance, or Among Other Things»**

Long Feng looked up as a Dai Li agent walked into his study. The man raised an eyebrow as the agent tentatively shut the door and turned the lock.

"Have you news for me, Xei Fong?" he asked mildly, turning his eyes down to the maps of the area surrounding Ba Sing Se.

"Sir." Xei Fong bowed, then straightened and approached Long Feng's desk. "It's about Her Highness's orders-"

"Is that so?" Long Feng said. He pulled out a crinkled scroll and unrolled it. "Which ones? The orders concerning the old traitor, or the Avatar?"

"It's about the prince, sir." Xei Fong said. Long Feng froze in the act of jotting down notes on the reach of the Crystal Catacombs. "She gave very specific orders to a handful of us regarding her brother."

"She has plans for him? I'm not surprised." Long Feng allowed himself a small smile. He hadn't underestimated that Fire Nation brat at all. "Inform me."

Xei Fong looked around warily, his dark eyes flashing to the corners and the sagging bookcases pushed against the walls, then behind him at the door. He walked around the desk, bent over, and whispered into Long Feng's ear. When Xei Fong stepped back, the smile on Long Feng's face had grown.

"She isn't as clever as I thought," he muttered under his breath as he scanned the map of the catacombs. He spotted the corner of a parchment sticking out of the pile and pulled out a faded map of old Ba Sing Se. Then, loudly, "Which agents received these particular orders?"

"Kwon, Jeng, Dao, Yu Chang, Gao, and myself," Xei Fong declared. "Kwon and Yu Chang are with you, Long Feng."

"But Gao is a problem. He's one of Azula's," Long Feng mused. "But it's possible to pull off. Xei Fong, I want you to memorize this map. The Avatar travels with a waterbender, so they'll stay near rivers. That's where you'll want to begin your search, as Princess Azula has ordered..."

XXX

Aang yawned as he walked out of the hut with a few big strides. He stopped for a moment to tug at his tunic before heading over to the nearby building to greet Appa.

_These Earth Kingdom clothes are weird_, the young Avatar decided as he yanked at the collar; it was poking his face. Other than that, these clothes weren't actually all that different from his temple clothes; the only thing that really bothered him was the drab colors. He was so used to the bright yellows and rich reddish-oranges he'd worn his entire life, but these clothes were all green and brown, with a hint of dull yellow. And to top it off, the clothes he was currently wearing weren't new; they were rather worn. Yun La said they were Xuan Ji's when he was young.

Yun La also promised to find him a wide-brimmed hat. Many people had grayish eyes and few would bother differentiating between eye color, but the bright blue arrow tattoo on his head was exclusively his. He needed to hide the characteristic mark of a master airbender, and the only thing that would do on short notice was a hat. The other tattoos were much easier to hide, but people would be suspicious of a young boy who guardedly kept a hood pulled low over his face.

"Hey, buddy!" he called out to his bison, who was lying on the ground with his head sticking out of the massive stone structure. Bundles and packs sat against the makeshift barn, including a sack of what Aang guessed was apples. This village had a lot of them.

The bison yawned; Aang laughed and jumped up, hugging his best friend's nose. "Ready to go?"

Appa lowed restlessly. Laughing, Aang jumped back down and fished into his tunic. Triumphantly he pulled out an apple from last night's dinner. "Here, boy!"

The bison opened his mouth and Aang tossed the treat in. He then turned and scanned the village. A frown crept onto his face. Where was everybody? He was pretty sure he hadn't woken up _that_ early but nobody was around...

"…don't care! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't call Aang over here right now!"

Sokka! He was yelling something awful. Aang frowned, then started walking towards the voice. As he drew closer, he heard other voices, and realized there was a gathering somewhere outside the village.

"…calm down, Sokka. Let them explain…"

"…sprout won't listen…"

"…he's got a good reason not to! All of us do! We trusted you!"

Katara! She was accusing the villagers of something! Aang broke into a jog, then stopped when he saw Toph sitting on a log near one of the fireplaces. She was frowning, her arms crossed, and her feet planted firmly on the earth.

"Toph? What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. Just that the people of this village did something rude…"

"What are you talking about?"

"Go see for yourself, Twinkle Toes. Oh, and good morning, finally."

Aang pulled an unacknowledged glowering look, then ran towards the commotion.

"…Aang! Aang, get over here! You, tell him everything!" Sokka materialized out of the blue. Grabbing Aang by the forearm, he dragged the younger boy over to the masses. Katara was standing there, her arms crossed. She was frowning furiously at the villagers. Suki, Kuei, and Bosco were nowhere to be found. Yamu was fuming and Yun La was simply shaking her head.

"Hey guys," Aang said nervously. _Here goes nothing…_ "What's going on? Isn't it too early in the morning to be arguing over something-"

"Aang," Katara said sharply, turning on him. "They have posters!"

"Posters? What are you talking about?"

"Posters! Of us! They're wanted posters!" Sokka pointed furiously at him, then Katara, and then himself.

"Wanted posters? You mean like the ones we've seen all over the place?" Aang demanded.

"Yes!" Sokka yelled. "They have wanted posters of _us_. Don't you see what they're doing?"

"What are they doing, Sokka?" Aang was confused. There were posters of them _everywhere_, put there by the Fire Nation. So far the only trouble they had involving those posters was with Zuko and Azula but…oh. He looked at the villagers and for the first time noticed how miserable their living conditions were. Their clothes were plain, drab, worn; the boy standing there with his mother was wearing worn, patched trousers. The village was built of wood and stone, and everything was very bare. They were also living in the forest outside Ba Sing Se. The Chen village was a poor village. A handsome ransom could definitely improve their lives.

Aang gulped, looked at Yamu and Yun La questioningly. He wasn't sure whether or not he should lose his temper; he didn't even _feel_ mad. After all, he thought, what could they do to stop him and the others from leaving?

_Oh, right, Yamu and the other men are earthbenders. Oh boy…_

He took a deep breath but before he could open his mouth, Kuei barged into the fray from the underbrush, holding triumphantly over his head something that dripped a thick liquid.

"Look everybody! Bosco's found honey! This _is_ honey, right?"

Behind Aang, Sokka slapped himself in the face and groaned.

Kuei then realized that now wasn't the time to ask for a confirmation. He looked from Yamu, Yun La, and the villagers to Aang, Katara, and Sokka. He looked over his shoulder briefly to see Bosco lumbering after him, shoving aside bushes, then twitched as a sticky droplet hit his spectacles.

"Ah…I'll just go right in," he said quickly, turning red with embarrassment, and made to head into the village. Sokka grabbed him by the collar and hauled him back.

"This is about you, too, Kuei," Sokka said sternly.

Aang stared at the former Earth King. "There's a wanted poster for Kuei, too?"

"What wanted poster? What's a wanted poster?" Kuei asked innocently. He twitched again as the sticky stuff splattered on his spectacles again.

"This is _enough_! I've had enough of this nonsense!" Yun La said, almost savagely. She glared at Sokka, daring him to talk back to an elder. "Young man, hold your tongue and listen! Yong Jun and Fei were out in the forest and they went to a lakeside port down south. It was a Fire Nation port; soldiers were putting those posters up and handing them out to people. They brought the posters back home to discuss with you. Do you realize how much danger you're in now that all these posters are going up? They will be spread all across the Earth Kingdom. You won't be welcomed by any village or city whatsoever. What have you to say about that now, young man?"

Sokka was at a loss; he wasn't sure if being the Avatar's companion held anything against the words of someone much older than he was. He thought over what Yun La had just said, then shrank away. "Uh…um…nothing…but-but-"

"What's with the racket?" Suki appeared at the gates, looking curiously at the gathering while smothering a yawn. She spotted the abashed look on Sokka's face and zeroed in on him. "Sokka, what did you do now?"

"What? No! I didn't do anything, Suki, I swear!"

"It was all just a big misunderstanding," Aang declared genially, moving in swiftly to save Sokka, and quell the dispute. "Right?"

He looked expectantly at the Chen villagers. Yamu nodded but Ataku still looked like he wanted his callused hands around Sokka's neck. Then the underbrush rustled and Aang heard soft boots moving over bramble-covered earth. He looked up to see Sen and Gohrun appear, both red-faced and heaving.

"B-bad news!" Sen exclaimed, ignoring or simply refusing to comment on the confrontational gathering just outside the village gates.

"Where were they? Off to report us?" Sokka demanded, his suspicious nature back in full force. Suki stared at him, baffled. "Where'd you come from?"

"One of the villages closer to Ba Sing Se, kid," Gohrun said. "Yun La…"

The woman stirred at the name.

"Xuan Ji, he's been discovered. We were talking to Dao…Princess Azula gave the order yesterday. Word has it that they found out he's the leak-"

"No…" Yamu looked quickly at the healer; she was pale. "Dao wouldn't lie, would he?"

"Dao's Xuan Ji's best friend. He's trusted to be honest with us," Sen said, tugging at his sweat-splotched brown headband. "We're going to have to move, after the Avatar and his companions leave-"

"So you guys weren't reporting us, is that it?" Sokka demanded.

"Who's Dao?" Katara asked curiously. "Wait, does Dao know Xuan Ji's in the Dai Li?"

"Dao _is_ Dai Li," Yong Jun spoke up. "He's the only other Dai Li agent we trust, although he's never been to our village. He's met a few of us; he's promised not to harm us in any way-"

"How can you trust him? He's in with the Dai Li!" Sokka shouted. "Maybe he told on Xuan Ji-"

"He wouldn't do that," Sen replied evenly. "I can tell."

"He's only one person, though," Gohrun mused. "It must be the other Dai Li agents. Yamu, we'll have to move fast. I bet they're planning to use Xuan Ji as some sort of leverage…"

He looked pointedly at Aang.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Suki said, tapping her foot on the ground. "Look, ransom or no ransom, we have to get out of here."

"What if they report us before the Dai Li come? They'll spare the village and we'll be stuck with…Azula…." Sokka cringed, obviously imagining it.

"Azula won't." Aang was still busy trying to figure out whether or not they should trust the Chen villagers after the posters fiasco, but when it came to Azula, everything was clear. "They had us for a week; they could've turned us in anytime. Azula won't be happy about that; she'll probably take the entire village prisoners for hiding us from her for so long! Sokka, we don't have time to keep fighting. We need supplies and we need to get out of here before the Dai Li come!"

Sokka opened his mouth again, intent on sticking to his stance, but Toph then strode outside, arms crossed over her chest. Everyone looked at her.

"Something's going into Ba Sing Se," she announced loudly. "I can't tell if it's Dai Li or something else, but I don't think it's the Dai Li; there's too many things moving-feels like people. And Sokka, stop being so paranoid; they're not lying."

"How do you-oh, that…" Sokka scowled. There went his stance, buried by Toph's 'infallible' ability to tell who's lying. "Fine. If Toph says so, I believe it."

Suki looked questioningly at the others.

"Toph can tell the difference in a person's physical reaction if they lie," Katara explained flatly. A hurt look crossed her face as she spoke; Aang surmised this had something to do with Jet.

"Well then, it's decided," Yamu said. He turned around to address the villagers. "You know what to do."

And instantaneously the villagers dispersed and streamed back into the village. Yamu and Yun La remained where they were and then turned to Aang and the others.

"We don't have much but the supplies we're piling outside your bison's hut will last for at least a week," Yamu said calmly. He held up a hand when Aang opened his mouth to protest. "You need our help, Avatar Aang. We may be poor but please, accept our help."

"If you plan to remain the Earth Kingdom longer, you must change your clothes and disguise your looks," Yun La added. "Aang, the hat is on one of the cots in my hut. We have clothes for all of you; they'll help you blend in whenever you have to stop at a town or a city. Sokka, you must undo that ponytail."

"It's not a ponytail," Sokka yelled, "and no, I won't!"

"Sokka, stop being such an idiot!" Katara snapped. She tapped at her right temple with her index finger. "She's right. You do stand out with that wolf's tail of yours."

"And you?" Sokka challenged. Katara sighed, and crossed her arms over the simple bluish green tunic she was wearing over her dark leggings.

"I'm braiding it," she declared. "Just not the Water Tribe braid."

"I have to do that, too, don't I?" Toph said with a scowl. "There's a reason I don't braid my hair-"

"I'll help you with that," Suki said. "Don't worry about it."

It seemed the camouflage theory had been successfully put into practice. Aang looked around to find Kuei; the former Earth King was struggling to pry what Aang knew was a honeycomb from his very filthy-yet-refined clothes. Bosco was licking at the man's tunic and purring deep in his throat like a cat.

"And what about him?" Sokka pointed at Kuei, who sat up immediately.

"Did we make a decision?" he asked.

Yun La nodded in agreement with Sokka's skeptical statement. "Oh yes, he's quite the problem…"

XXX

Evening. The sky was tinged pink and yellow. There wasn't much time left. He still had the walls to hop over and the kitchens to sneak into. The growing darkness would provide a good cover but darkness meant his time was running short.

"Is that all you need?" Jin asked, looking dubiously at the bulging pack on Zuko's back. He followed her gaze, then nodded.

"Yes."

They were standing in an alley that ended at one of the dividing walls. Zuko was still contemplating the best way to get over the wall without dropping anything or catching anyone's attention when Jin sighed, so deeply he looked at her.

"So…" She looked up at him with a small sad smile. "This is it, isn't it?"

What was she talking about? Zuko looked at her with open curiosity.

"I mean…" She made some insensible gestures, then sighed again. "We won't be seeing each other again, will we?"

"Why do you say that?" Zuko asked curiously.

In the dark he thought he saw her face darken. Maybe it was a trick of the light.

"I…I mean, I live here, down here in the lower rings. And you…you're the prince of the Fire Nation. I don't even know how…how we got to know each other. It-it makes no sense. What we had was nice while it lasted...but it's over now. You have to go back to your world, and I'll be here…I don't think we'll see each other again, Zuko."

He stared at her blankly but his mind immersed in her words. _I don't think we'll see each other again, Zuko._ She was right. It was near-impossible for them to see each other again, not under these circumstances. They lived in two different worlds; hers was that of a lower class Earth Kingdom refugee and his was that of a member of Fire Nation royalty.

"I…" What was he supposed to say now? He closed his mouth and turned away. Nothing could come to his mind. He shifted on his feet, uncomfortable that the time was passing by, uncomfortable with the situation, uncomfortable with Jin. "Jin-"

"You should go," she said quickly, brushing back her bangs and smiling nervously. "You don't have a lot of time."

"Jin-"

"Just go, Zuko. Someone needs you. It's okay, I…I understand. I really do. Save the man I know as Mushi, Lee."

Her voice was cracking, shaking; she turned slowly with the intent of walking out of the alley. Out of his life.

"Jin, wait!" On impulse he ran forward and grabbed her shoulder. He whirled her around, saw the astonishment in her face.

"Zuko, what are you-"

He didn't know what he was doing. It just happened; his self-control and mind were overwhelmed as he leaned in and pressed his lips against her slightly agape mouth. It was a clumsy move and he felt his face heat up as he nearly missed. He didn't.

Two heartbeats later he pulled back. Zuko quickly turned away, unable to look Jin in the face, and tried to regain his bearings. _What_ did he just _do_? Did he just _kiss_ her? Stubbornly he refused to look at her, but instead willed his right foot forward and towards the wall, then the left, and the right, and the left, slowly carrying himself away from the girl. There was no sound behind him, then a shuddering intake of breath, and he closed his eyes, sighed. Then he turned to one of the apartments and started pulling himself up, window and railing by window and railing. Supreme balance and precision slowly took him over, drowning out the temptation to touch his lip, as he pulled himself up higher and higher.

Just once, when he was high enough, he looked down. Jin was slowly walking out of the alley and back into the streets. Her pace was measured and drifting. He watched the back of her head, then sighed again and hoisted himself up to the roof.

_Goodbye._

XXX

_He kissed me! Spirits, I can't believe he kissed me!_ Jin squeezed her eyes shut as she pressed a hand to her chest. Her heart beat rapidly and she felt overwhelmingly hot.

She stepped out into the middle of one of the main streets of the lower ring. Sellers were closing shop; many of them were loading leftover produce into wagons to take back home; some were pushing whole carts away. Guards paced around their appointed areas with regularity, watching every movement with a critical eye. Jin shuddered and turned, joined several others going down the street.

"Jin, dear!"

She turned towards the voice. One of the mainstays of this street, an elderly herbalist by the name Uma, was closing shop.

"Yes, Uma?"

The woman heaved some half-empty wooden boxes on top of one another, then stood up and stretched out her back. Her gray hair was loosely held back in a bun which had been slowly working itself undone.

"Oh, I was wondering what became of that handsome young man you were with just minutes ago, dear," Uma said casually.

Lee. Zuko. The tea server. The prince of the Fire Nation. The one and only. She flushed and stopped herself from touching her bottom lip; she rubbed at her cheek instead. The skin felt hot. "Uh…he went...home. Why do you ask?"

Uma shrugged. "I was wondering. He's such a nice man, don't you think?"

Nice? That wasn't the best – or the right – word to describe, Zuko, not even a small aspect of him. Of course, all Jin did was nod in silent 'agreement'. "He is…"

Her eyes drifted upward to the rooftops of the buildings lining up the street, half-expecting a small dark figure to be darting about, leaping over gaps on the way back to the center of Ba Sing Se. Nothing.

"Dear, can you help me with these? It's getting more and more difficult for me to get these into the cart."

The old woman gestured to the cart just outside the store. Jin nodded, then helped Uma lift the wooden boxes and place them in the cart.

"Thank you, dear. If only more people were as helpful and considerate as you." Uma sighed. "Tell your mother I said hello."

"I will," Jin said. "Good night, Uma."

"'Good night, dear."

Jin continued down the street. The lamps hanging outside the stores that stayed open later were glowing more brightly as night fell on Ba Sing Se. There were fewer people out now; Jin muttered to the spirits and broke into a jog. Her mother never liked it when Jin was out when it got dark. Some of the people here were unpredictable and a few, dangerous.

The thought sent shivers down her spine and Jin jogged even faster. Every now and then she tossed looks over her shoulder as she turned into the familiar alleyway that brought her to the apartment she lived at with her mother.

Suddenly her heart was beating up her throat. Was that someone there, vanishing into the alley just ahead? Was that person looking at her? She looked behind her, saw something move. A bearded cat stepped out under a lamp hung outside a small lively eatery and she let loose the breath she was holding.

She turned around, then yelped when she saw someone standing in the middle of the alley. Nobody was there before, and this person looked bizarre, with that low wide-brimmed hat-

Something clamped over her mouth and she started screaming again. She clawed at the thing over her mouth; it was hard and rough, and felt like…a hand.

Then people were swooping down on her, three men with hats and grim mouths. One of them grabbed her arms and pulled them behind her back; the other whipped out a length of cloth and tried to wind it around her eyes. Jin kicked at the man behind her and twisted away but the third grabbed her throat and she started choking. She reflexively tried to breath through her mouth but this thing was covering it; she couldn't get enough air and started wheezing through her nostrils. As she struggled to breathe the cloth fell over her eyes and tightened around her head. Then the man holding her arms shoved her forward. They were taking her somewhere.

_Who are these people? What do they want with me? Let me go!_

She started yelling at them to let her go but only insensible gibberish made its way through the clamp on her mouth. She twisted violently but the man yanked her arms back and her shoulders twisted painfully. She cried out and stopped struggling to escape the pain.

The cloth over her eyes dampened with tears of fear as the men continued leading her somewhere. What did they want with her? She had done nothing wrong, and she needed to get home to her mother. She would be tearing herself to pieces right now, knowing that what she had warned Jin about had indeed come true.

Jin only hoped these men weren't the Dai Li. If they were…then they knew about Zuko…then Ir-Mushi would never get out of prison…and Zuko would be in trouble…no…

XXX

Zuko never ceased to be amazed by the extreme disparities between the lower and upper rings. The middle rings, which sat in the middle, didn't help assuage the shock. Overcrowded, shabby, and rowdy versus spacious, refined, and snobbish. How was it possible for all these classes to exist side by side? Even with the dividing walls it was all impossible to fathom. Did the workers of the lower class know if those nobles of the upper class existed and vice versa?

He looked behind him, watched as the train took him further and further away from the lower rings. He shook his head as the wind pushed and pulled at his black hair, then raked at his head when hair got into his eyes. Shifting on his seat on top of the train, he sorted through his materials one more time. His mind was becoming jittery with the task at hand.

If Azula asked where he was the whole day, what was he to say? She'd keep an eye on him until her suspicions faded away. And if he couldn't get away from her the moment he got back into the palace, then how could he make his way down to the kitchens? Speaking of kitchens…

Keeping his hat secured under his left arm, Zuko went through his pack and pulled out a small bamboo container. He carefully opened the lid and slipped in his thumb and index finger, pulled out a small dumpling, and popped it in his mouth. Might as well eat his dinner before setting his plan into action.

Once he emptied the container of dumplings, he tossed it over the side, then grimaced, immediately regretting the move. What if it hit some hapless middle classman on the head, or a guard? Well, he'd be long gone by the time the unlucky person looked up to see where the container came from.

He went through the pack again, then felt fabric. Immediately he recalled the clothes Jin helped him buy; he was hopeless when it came to shopping for clothing. Back in the Fire Nation, the clothes were chosen for him, and they weren't very different from one another- vibrant and refined; after all, he was royalty and it was the duty of the commoners to admire him. Now, though, he didn't need something eye catching, quite the opposite: he needed something to help him blend into the crowd.

"_You might want to grow out your hair some more," Jin suggested as she held up a tunic to him. She frowned and tossed it back on the stand. She started sorting through the rest of the tunics. "You can't wear that hat forever. Hold still, Lee."_

Jin. Would he ever see her again?

"_I mean…we won't be seeing each other again, will we?"_

He shook his head and sighed, felt the shudder run through his whole body. He had never let anyone get as close to him as Jin did, even though it was Uncle who forced him into that disastrous date with her in the first place. He started smirking,then tried to smother it though nobody was around to see it, and then the smirk grew into a real smile and spread.

He couldn't stop thinking about veritable disaster that had been his hair. Uncle had all but attacked him with a comb, trying to make his unruly short hair lie flat, and fussed over choosing the perfect clothes as he lectured his nephew on women and their complexities.

The more he thought about Uncle, the more depressed he felt. As the train drew nearer and nearer to its final destination, he started thinking of the man he betrayed. Why was he such a fool? Uncle had always stood by his side, had gone by choice into exile with him, had cut off the top knot symbolizing his ties to the Fire Nation when Zuko severed his own, had always tried to make Zuko a 'better' person. Despite all of this, Zuko had forgotten his childhood mantra of "_Azula always lies"_ and had been seduced to her side with embarrassingly little effort on her part. Why was he such a complete and utter idiot?

The train was slowing down, pulling into the last station, and he quickly readied himself. As the train's speed reduced to a crawl, he slid gracefully down the side and landed quietly on the platform. No one was present with the exception of the few passengers in the train cars, and he quickly dashed out of the station into the spacious idyllic roads of the highest of the upper classes. He hugged the shadows, clutching his bag close to him, as he almost artfully dodged the guards patrolling the streets. Hiding in the shadow of a gutter pipe that ran up the wall of a government official's house as a group of four soldiers stalked by was nerve-wracking but Zuko managed to get away with it.

Several blocks from the servants' passageway into the palace he found himself in an unfamiliar space, an octagonal clearing bordered with elegant iron lamps and dominated by an even more refined stone fountain. Fish rose from the center in a flurry of curves and water poured from their open mouths in slender streams down into the fountain bed, which looked like a pond complete with floating lily pads. He half-expected to see a family of turtle-ducks swimming about or sitting on the sculpture centerpiece but upon closer inspection he found small copper and pearl koi swimming about. A large black cat was sitting on the ledge staring down into the waters, but as he approached, it hissed at him and leaped off the fountain, dashed into the shadows. Zuko watched it blend into the night, then looked back at the fountain.

The fountain reminded him of the one back in the lower rings, when he used his firebending to light all those lights and Jin kissed him.

But the more he stared at the water streaming down from the fish's mouth, the more his mind was tugged in a different direction. Water…water bending…waterbending…that waterbending peasant girl…what happened to her? The last he saw her she was fleeing the catacombs with the limp body of the Avatar in her arms. At that moment she seemed like an out-worldly water spirit, the way she rose up using the underground water to propel her, her brown hair flowing over her shoulders, carrying the wounded hero in the hopes that he would live to fight another day. The Avatar had been shot down when he entered that strange powerful state; Azula had been the only one to witness this transformation and not be terrified of it, if it was possible for her to be terrified of anything. The moment Azula's lightning struck the Avatar, Zuko's heart skipped and he was nearly certain the boy did not survive.

But the peasant girl had the spirit water. She said it had special properties. Maybe she saved him-what did he care? Since when did he ever care for the Avatar's wellbeing? The Avatar had dominated his life for the past three years but only to capture him and bring him home. He had never seen the Avatar as someone so powerful and yet so vulnerable, never as another human being like him and Uncle. But, he then decided, when Azula struck the Avatar, something in him changed. Shock. Horror. Astonishment. And, maybe, some sadness…despair. He was all for capturing the boy _alive_; Azula, for all intents and purposes, simply saw him as an obstacle and shot him down without another thought. Maybe that was Zuko's problem; he didn't want to kill the Avatar, and that's why he always failed to capture the airbender.

What did that say about him?

"…early. I'm sick and tired of patrolling when nothing ever happens!"

"It's your own damn fault you signed up for this district, you dolt! Don't go around complaining to me about your mistake!"

"So you're not tired of walking in circles?"

"I prefer this to my wife any day, Pu Yi…"

The two guards strode by the fountain, looking around carelessly. If they had given a damn about their job, they would've noticed the shadow cast across the ground; it stood out starkly compared to other shadows. And it moved in and out of itself at regular intervals, as though it was breathing.

Zuko leaned out to see the guards dissolve back into darkness, then breathed a sigh of relief and stood up. He quickly strode into the shadows as well, then set his pack down and began fishing through it. He quickly changed into form-fitting black clothes, complete with a hood he pulled over his face to hide his identity. He slung his bag over his shoulder, stuffed the hat in a half-empty water barrel under a rain gutter, and headed straight for the servants' entrance.

Unfortunately he failed to consider the guard posted at the door. He dashed back into the shadows, then watched as a servant approached the gates.

"Papers?"

"Oh come now, Sho. You've seen me every night for the past eighteen years; don't tell me you forget my face every single day. That hurts me deeply."

"Rules, Kang. Especially with the new order in Ba Sing Se. Now, papers? Or are you going to wait here all night until you're fired for being late?"

"Have it your way, Sho. But the next time your daily porridge tastes bitter, don't come running to me for a quick fix…"

The man fumbled in his robes and shoved a crinkled piece of paper in the guard's face, who then nodded a confirmation. Zuko growled as he watched the man, Kang, walk in. Brilliant; now how was he going to get in? it was so much easier getting out of the palace, and he suspected this had something to do with defenses; easy for the royalty and officials to escape but ridiculously difficult for the invaders,such as himself, to enter.

"…hey, Sho!"

Great, those two guards from the fountain.

"Pu Yi, Endo, how's patrol tonight?"

"The usual. Boring as ever. I don't know why I signed up for this. This is the most uneventful district in the upper ring. I wouldn't mind a break-in now and then."

"That's the testament of our damn jobs. We are so good at patrolling this goddamn hellhole, we bore ourselves. Don't you agree, Sho?"

"Nothing ever happens where I'm stationed. Sure wish I got the front gates or even the back gates, or the training grounds. All I get are the usual petty servants."

"Kang nagging you?"

"Must you ask?"

Zuko growled deep in his throat. Great. He had been briefly considering knocking the guard Sho unconscious and slipping inside but now those two guards Pu Yi and Endo had to come along and ruin it all for him. He made a quick mental note labeling them as today's personal demons. He frowned, then looked up the gutter pipe of the building he was shadowing. Well, when in doubt, one can always do the dangerous and the impossible.

He slunk around the building, then used the window ledges to hoist himself up to the shingled roof. He grimaced when one of the shingles loosened under his foot and clinked against an adjacent shingle, but the three guards didn't let up their daily gossip, this time about the wife of some government official and her son who wasn't the government official's son.

"…bound to have noticed by now…"

"…eyes are a dead giveaway…"

He craned his head up and looked around. That house over there had a wider roof and if he was lucky he could make the jump from the roof over the wall without a problem. That's after he hops over four houses without making a noise that would catch the interest of these bored-as-heck eager guards. Doubly dangerous, and the need to hurry; he was taking way too much time.

He pushed the sack behind his back with his left elbow, then crept along the rooftop to the end of the roof. The distance wasn't great but still, if he dislodged one shingle, just one, he was doomed…

With a low deep breath, he tensed his muscles, then launched himself through the gap and onto the roof of the next building. He held still, his heart racing, waiting for the ringing silence before moving on.

"…such amazing hands…"

"…the way she looks at…"

They were still talking. Good. Zuko took another deep breath, held it, then literally dashed along the length of the roof in a crouching position, which was not easy considering how high his center of gravity was. But the next jump was uneventful as the first, and so was the third. In no time at all he was at the fourth rooftop, and creeping along down the sloping roof to the wall. A few feet separated him from the first part of his mission. A leap wasn't much. Of course, there were the three guards to consider; they were nearby, and if he wasn't careful they'd have him in seconds.

Then he noticed the shadow he was casting and cursed under his breath. He hoped they were too engrossed in their conversation to notice a fleeting shadow going from roof to wall.

"…you don't say! I always wondered what those uppity Dai Li always talked about down at the training grounds…"

"…at least we'll have the whole of the training grounds to ourselves once they move out. Orders, I hear…"

"…down at the training grounds and a couple of…"

Zuko readied himself, rocking his body back and forth to pick up momentum. Just enough strength, the exact calculations, and he'll be in the palace grounds to begin Phase Two of his plans. All he needed to do was leap over Sho, Pu Yi, and Endo, and all will be over.

xxx

"…you don't say! I always wondered what those uppity Dai Li always talked about down at the training grounds. Didn't think they'd have an ear for gossip."

"They're not that different from us, Pu Yi. All that separates us from them bastards is the earthbending, But at least we'll have the whole of the training grounds to ourselves once they move out. Orders, I hear. That Princess Azula is one tough kitty."

"Don't let her hear you say that. Word has it the merest slight will have you in the infirmary for a nasty burn. One fellow had to leave the Dai Li; he didn't bring what she wanted to hear. But listen, I was down at the training grounds and a couple of the agents were talking about Princess Azula's brother Zuko. The boy with the scar and the crazy dreams, you know."

"Xei Fong told me," Pu Yi declared with an all-knowing look on his face. "The whole castle's talking up about Prince Zuko and one of the Avatar's companions. The girl, right, the waterbender? But get this, some of the agents were tracking him today and one of them brought back word that he was meeting up with some other girl down at the lower rings."

"What?" Endo snorted through his abnormally large nose. "What for? Some sort of dalliance? This Prince Zuko sure gets around with the women!"

"Remember those Fire Nation soldiers that came yesterday? Some of them were with Prince Zuko during the chase for the Avatar. They said once he caught that waterbending girl near a river and tied her to a tree. Supposedly, it's to draw the Avatar out, but I have my suspicions…"

"You always have suspicions, Sho," Endo said dryly. "If I were you, I'd let Kang pass by without any stupid papers. He's been at it for, what, twenty years?"

"Rules are rules, orders are orders," Sho retorted stoutly, crossing his arms over his leather-protected chest. "If you don't have identification, you can't get in."

"You ought to have been in the Dai Li," Pu Yi commented. "No one could get past-did you see that?"

"See what?" Endo asked, raising a thick eyebrow at his partner.

"A shadow-"

Nearby something meowed, and a large black cat slunk out of the shadows a distance away. It craned its head and stared at the three men, then stalked off.

"Pu Yi, it's just a cat." Sho shook his head. "You two need a new district to patrol. Why don't you ask for transfer to the middle rings?"

"I'm not patrolling some damn merchant's courtyards," Endo began stiffly. "One of them tried to get away with giving me that armor, remember…"

XXX

"You'll have to leave under the cover of darkness," Yamu instructed as Aang tossed another sack up to Sokka, who trying to figure out how to fasten all their supplies to Appa without his saddle. "The Dai Li prefer to move by day, especially in a place as unpredictable as this forest. It's a five-day walk to the northwest end of the forest; there you can ride your bison and go where you need to."

"Why can't we just fly now?" Sokka grumbled. He wasn't looking forward to wearing his feet out over this kind of terrain.

"Because Appa's white and the moon's getting fuller," Suki explained as she adjusted her dark brown arm braces before taking Aang's place so he could go take care of his personal belongings. He stuck around, though, helping relay the supplies over to Sokka. "It'll reflect off his fur and everyone will notice."

"Stupid Appa," Sokka grumbled. Said beast growled and tossed him off, sending a loose pack down with him. "Ow! Hey!"

"Serves you right, insulting Appa like that," Katara scolded as she brought in another pack. "What's in these anyways?"

"Changes of clothes, bandages, food," Chuyin, one of the women in the village, listed as she beckoned her son Yuan to bring in the last sack from next to what was once Appa's hut. "Whatever you need in case you can't get into a village."

"Of course we can't get into a village, not with all those _posters_ everywhere," Sokka muttered as he got back to his feet and shook his head almost viciously. "Stupid hair…"

Indeed, Yun La and everybody else had practically forced Sokka to abandon the wolf's tail. He'd been muttering the whole day about "feeling naked" and having hair all over his face. Suki giggled as she tossed another sack up on Appa's back. "Get back up there, big boy. We need you to fasten these, remember?"

Sokka grumbled some more but did as told.

Aang looked around but Toph, Kuei, and Bosco were nowhere in sight. "Hey, Katara? Where's Toph, Kuei, and Bosco?"

Katara, in the act of handing Suki another pack to throw up to Sokka, paused and looked around. Then she sighed. "She hasn't come out yet? Didn't think she'd get so worked up over one hair change-"

"I heard that, Sugar Queen!"

Toph stormed outside with a bag over her shoulder and her long hair twisted into a braid. "I do _not_ get worked up over one hair change. Can we go now?"

Everyone stared at her, surprised. Suki then smiled. "I think the braid looks fine, Toph-"

"Fan Girl, please."

"You mind lending us a hand?" Sokka called down as Suki tossed up yet another sack. "Man, how many more of these do we need?"

"We've a long way to go. Weren't you paying attention when Ataku explained our route?"

"Yes, I was! I just think we'd be better off going light. Toph, get over here-"

"I'm _blind_. If I try tossing stuff up, I might hit _you_ in the face. Ever thought of that?"

Sokka didn't push it, being a bit too fond of his nose to risk having Toph lend a helping hand.

"Here's the last one," Yuan said loudly as he heaved over a sack, now officially displacing Aang so he could go get his personal belongings. The long-limbed preteen jerked his head back towards his village. "By the way, His Majesty wants to know which hat looks better on his bear-"

"Argh!" Sokka slapped himself in the face, then got thrown off Appa's back when he failed to catch one of the last packs Suki tossed up to him. "Suki!"

She sighed and turned to the waterbender. "He's hopeless. Why did I fall for someone as hopeless as him?"

Katara smiled as she took the pack from Yuan. "Because when he's not acting like an idiot he's a really good man. Isn't that right, Sokka!"

"Exactly as she put it!" With some grunting and complaining from Appa, Sokka pulled himself back up the bison's back. "Okay, the last one!"

Suki tossed it up and he shoved it over with the other packs, all of which were being tied together and piled up in the middle of the bison's back. "Hey, Aang!"

"Yeah?" Aang reappeared, hat in hand and sack over his shoulder. He was followed by Kuei and Bosco; Kuei kept his fancy hat, spectacles, and jade bead necklace but he was wearing a tunic and pants like the others. His, though, were in a much better condition and there was even a splash of yellow, giving the impression of a well-off peasant. Bosco was wearing a hat, just like the one Yun La gave Aang. It was tied under his chin and kept sliding over and covering the bear's eyes.

"I'd hate to leave," Kuei muttered. "The people are just so nice!"

Yuan bowed as he approached. "Appreciate your kindness, Your Majesty!"

The older man gave the boy a smile before joining the others. Katara looked at Yuan's face and stifled a giggle; the boy was practically beaming and blushing at the same time.

It suddenly struck Katara how _she_ behaved in the presence of royalty. Back in the South Pole, she only cared about surviving without attracting any attention from the occasional Fire Nation ship that sailed by, but ever since Aang swept her and Sokka off to the nether reaches of the world, she's stood nearly head to head with all the royalty in the world, including King Bumi, Chief Arnook of the Northern Water Tribe, and the Earth King. Well, her father _was_ Chief Hakoda, so technically….

Still, watching Yuan and practically every other villager kowtow to Kuei left her with a very strange feeling. If she had never found Aang and somehow managed to meet these people, would she be touching her forehead to the ground whenever they passed by her? Would she be respectful and courteous and meek, calling them 'Your Majesty' and such? Was she getting it into her head that being the Avatar's waterbending companion meant she could lord over these men who held such power over so many people?

"Katara, quit gawking and get over here; we're leaving!" Sokka's voice broke through her rambling thoughts and she whirled on him, scowling.

"I'm not gawking at anything!" Katara snapped back, then looked around to determine exactly what gave him the idea that she was gaping at something. Oh…a tree. A bit embarrassed, she turned and went to the others, who had gathered in a group with Yamu and Yun La.

"…enough gratitude for everything you've done for us," Aang was saying while Kuei tugged at Bosco's arm. The bear was sitting on his haunches, looking around curiously. Suki, Sokka, and Toph were standing next to Appa, their personal belongings in bags slung over their shoulders. Momo was sitting on Toph's shoulder. Katara joined them as Aang bowed to the two leaders of the village. Yamu and Yun La bowed in return.

"We wish you a safe journey, Avatar," the healer said in a kind voice. "Your destiny calls and you must answer."

"You are our last hope," Yamu said slowly and with much thought, which was rather uncharacteristic of him. "But only when you come into your own. Spirits guide you, Avatar."

The two leaders turned and began walking back to the village. The other villagers had huddled at the gates of the makeshift walls, watching as the Avatar and his companions walked into the wilderness of the forests around Ba Sing Se.

XXX

Zuko didn't like the looks Azula was giving him, but pushed aside the uneasy feelings as he declared himself too tired to join her, Mai, and Ty Lee for some dinner. Mai and Ty Lee were leaving the day after tomorrow; Azula didn't trust anybody else to escort Uncle down to the sea where a ship would take him to the Fire Nation.

"Inform me, Brother, as to what you were doing that made you too tired to join us for dinner," Azula said mildly, obviously putting up a show of not caring. He knew Azula; she was listening to every word he was to utter in reply.

"I was training," he muttered. It was half-true; he hadn't had so much exercise since the battle in the catacombs.

"Oh?"

"How come I didn't see you at the training grounds, then?" Ty Lee asked curiously as she cart-wheeled around the throne room. Zuko noted with some interest that Mai was intentionally – or unintentionally, he couldn't be entirely certain – aiming the daggers she was cleaning at the over-hyper girl as she whizzed by.

"I prefer to train alone," he said. It was true, depending on exactly what he was training. Firebending, when not dealing with meditation, oftentimes required others for combat practice. Swinging around dual swords didn't. Nor did scaling walls and evading the city's police while trying to formulate a fail-proof plan to free his uncle and effectively turn him back into a fugitive. Which of course multiplied two-fold if he went the extra mile for a little something else...

"Oh…" Ty Lee was now doing flips. Mai sighed.

"This is boring."

The two Dai Li agents who always accompanied Azula passed each other a knowing look. Zuko suddenly wondered how many times Mai said everything was boring. When was anything _not_ boring to that girl?

"If you say so," Azula suddenly said as she rose to her feet. "I was going to ask for a game of Pai Sho later in the evening but if you're so tired, then you can go to your room and rest."

Pai Sho? Zuko raised his right eyebrow at his sister while she stepped off the platform and left the throne room. She must be doing this purposely. What was she trying to get out of this? A faulty step? A prod in the right spot that could prove he's not entirely loyal to the Fire Nation?

_And she still didn't say anything about what I said at that stupid dinner a week ago_, he thought, very much lost in confusion, as he left the throne room through another door. He moved mechanically, having practically memorized his way from his room to the throne room. _Maybe she thought I was delusional…I was hearing voices in my head…no, she wouldn't think that. Would she?_

He shook his head, scattering those worrisome thoughts. Now was not the time to dwell on what had already happened; he needed to focus on what he had set in motion the moment he leaped over the heads of the three guards and into the palace grounds.

Azula must think she's untouchable, he had thought as he tossed the potent mixture Madame Wu informed him of into the massive pots of rice in the kitchens and left behind a carefully hand-written note instructing the cooks not to leave behind any leftovers for the prisoner known as Iroh. She must've thought nobody would dare mess with her food. Or maybe it was a minor detail overlooked. But Azula overlooks nothing. Nor would've Long Feng when the Earth King still ruled, but who'd dare poison the cultural symbol of Ba Sing Se anyways?

_Jet would_, Zuko suddenly thought; he paused before entering his room. That paranoid yet driven young man had said and done things on the ferry that made him believe Jet would've gone further in his crusade against the wealthy authority had he really noticed the poverty of the lower rings. Poisoning someone wouldn't be out of his league, would it? Would he actually sneak into the palace and do that to the Earth King? What happened to Jet anyways?

"…getting tired-"

"Already? If Her Highness catches you sleeping on duty, Kwon-"

"I'm awake! Shut your hole!"

That mix was kicking in already. Zuko smiled and glanced at the closed door while the few candles in his room burned brighter. He went and began rearranging all his supplies, including several containers for his uncle. Zuko had stolen a teapot and some water; he set about making his uncle some tea and poured it in the bamboo canister he purchased down at the lower rings. He screwed the cap on and stuffed the containers into his bag. He pulled out his black clothes and put them back on, folding up his palace clothes and placing them on his bed. He pulled the hood low over his head, then glanced at the door.

How long would it take for the two guards to fall asleep?

Two thumps answered the silent question.

xxx

"I'm tired," Ty Lee announced as she produced yet another yawn. Mai groaned; she was tired of Ty Lee's complaining but there wasn't much she could do to silence the acrobat.

"So I've heard," Azula muttered as she rubbed her forehead. She felt tired, too, which bothered her immensely. Azula was not interested in sleeping so early but her body was daring to disobey her mind, and its mutiny was so far successful. Her eyelids drooped and Azula shook her head quickly, forcing herself awake.

"I'm going to bed," Mai finally declared, rising to her feet. She staggered against the marble table, then pushed off and carefully made her way out of the expansive library room.

Something hit the table and Ty Lee started snoring loudly. Azula swiveled her eyes to the young woman and sighed. She was already drooling all over the maps of the Earth Kingdom, and the parchment papers weren't made to last when wet. She looked pointedly at her two agents Aiji and Gao, who swiftly lifted Ty Lee from the table and carried her out. She couldn't help but smile as the two agents disappeared; these two men had caught on with her demands and expectations so swiftly she couldn't help but be impressed. Most people stumbled; they were there to carry out every spoke and unspoken command instantaneously and without question.

If her plans played out perfectly, she'll personally promote them. Of course, first her plans had to work.

Aiji and Gao returned and stood at attention at the entrance of the study. Azula studied their emotionless faces, then her eyes narrowed when she noticed Aiji's eyes slowly close before snapping back open. Impossible; they were feeling sleepy, too? Something was obviously wrong here…

"Is Xuan Ji placed exactly as I ordered?" she asked. She winced at the weary tone.

"Exactly as you ordered, Your Highness," Aiji replied abruptly. Gao nodded, then turned away. She watched him bite on his lip, straining to hold back a yawn.

"Can someone explain to me why everyone is so tired at this moment?" she said as she slowly rose to her feet. Her mind was at war with itself; one side wanted her to stay seated and rest her head on the table while the other side ordered her to move swiftly to find the source of the sudden sleepiness striking her, her two friends, and her agents.

Aiji and Gao looked at each other, then shook their heads. Azula frowned, then covered her mouth with her hand as she yawned. She closed her eyes tightly for a second, then opened them and for a moment everything was sharp and clear. Then the world became blurry again.

"You're dismissed," she finally said as she returned to her seat. She leaned back in the hard chair and decided to find a softer chair the next day. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, heard her two agents leave the study.

Azula meant to open her eyes again; she still had the finer details to mull over. But as the doors of her study closed she drifted off to sleep.

xxx

The only question Zuko had in mind was: Where was the Blue Spirit mask? He hadn't seen it since that visit to the dungeons and knew that in order for everything to work in perfection he needed it. Where would a Dai Li agent hide the mask of a Fire Nation criminal?

He moved swiftly down the last dark hall, his cushioned shoes muffling each footfall as he approached the dungeons. He could see the two guards slumped over on either side of the doors, snoring softly. Two other men at the table were sleeping as well; drool was sliding down one of their chins. Zuko grimaced in disgust, then looked right and left. First the mask, then his uncle. That was his plan.

He strode quickly to the left hall and found it ended at a locked door. Zuko growled, then looked around. He turned about and went straight ahead. The right hall ended in a staircase that spiraled upward. Smells of food wafted down and he realized it was near the kitchens.

Brilliant. The mask was nowhere to be found. Then he remembered one of the prison guards had a set of keys. If he was really lucky, one of the keys matched the lock of the door in the left hall. First he had to actually find the keys, and he didn't like the prospect of groping an unconscious Dai Li agent for them. When he actually got to the agent, he was relieved to find the keys on a clip at the man's waist. Zuko grabbed them, muffled the sharp metallic noise with his hand, and strode quickly to the left hall door.

"…not this one…not this one…not this one…" he muttered, shoving keys at random into the lock and trying to twist them. One actually went all the way in but refused to budge. Forced to conclude this must not be the key, he pulled it back out and started going through the keys again. He'd half a mind to melt these keys and then melt down the lock; there were so many keys and so little time-

_Click._

Zuko smiled as he unlocked the door and pulled it open.

A storeroom. Nobody was in it; it was full of weapons and the most random objects that could be found in the proximity of the dungeons. He had no idea who used the weapons, since the Dai Li were all earthbenders, and he wondered what a dented spittoon and a child's doll were doing shoved into a corner of the storeroom.

On the table immediately to his right he found an impressive pile of small things, like porcelain vials and bronze daggers. Two objects immediately drew his interest, however. He stepped deeper in the storeroom and slowly pulled the objects out.

The Blue Spirit mask stared back at him with empty eyes. It had been casually tossed onto the table next to a very familiar staff. Zuko stared at it, then took it and, with a jerk of his wrist, opened up orange glider wings. He coughed as the dust was released from the glider's crevices.

The Avatar's staff. How'd the Dai Li get their hands on _this_? And what was he should to do with it now that it was in his hands? Should he let it sit here, rot away, and leave the Avatar partially weaponless? Or should he somehow sneak it out, slip it to Uncle, and let _him_ deal with it?

Then he remembered that the enemy was Azula and the Avatar was the enemy of his enemy, making them…still enemies. That made no sense and Zuko rubbed his forehead as he sighed in frustration at his indecisive mind.

_If I were Uncle, I'd take the staff with me and give it to the Avatar. But if I were me…if I were Azula, I'd burn the staff to ashes or just leave it here and forget it. But what would I do? Why is this so hard?_

But he was going to spring out his uncle. Might as well. He grabbed the staff as he slid the Blue Spirit mask over his face with the other hand, and stepped out of the storeroom. He locked the door behind him and maneuvered his way to the prison. He leaned the Avatar's staff against the wall next to one of the guards, then started sorting through the keys again.

_Patience. You need patience. You'll find it, just gotta…look through…patience…_

He felt himself heating up as each key he jammed into the lock wouldn't fit in all the way. Slowly but surely he was making his way to a frustrated explosion of fire that would ruin the plan.

_Click._

With a sigh of relief, he yanked the door open halfway, then slowly slid around it and into the dimly lit dungeons, where shadows flickered in the lights of low-burning torches down the main hall. He winced and wrinkled his nose at the horrid stench of unwashed bodies. Scattered snores in various voices echoed down the halls and in the prison cells, snuffing out his footsteps as he wove his way down the halls, peeking into the windows of each door he went by.

So he didn't plan everything to perfection; Zuko realized this was going to take much longer than he thought and the panic rose in his throat. Madame Wu said the mixture would last a few hours but he's already wasted couple hours making sure everyone in the palace had fallen asleep and finding his mask, and now he was wasting more time trying to find his uncle's cell.

A thump down the fifth hall sent Zuko running towards the noise. He stopped short of turning the corner into the hall and he inched forward, peeked around the corner, his body pressed to the rough cold wall to stay as close to the shadows as possible. He almost swore when his mask hit the wall but bit his lip hard. Somewhere down this smaller hall he heard more bodies falling, and jerked when he heard someone yawn. Seconds later another body had hit the ground.

He wondered how painful it was to hit the stone floor from a standing position. It must hurt a lot.

A Dai Li agent was crumpled against the door of prison cell. Surprisingly, he was the only man in the hall. He had seen more Dai Li agents as he worked his way down here, but they were mostly found where there were no cell doors. Here…this man was guarding someone. That's it. There was someone in this hall the Dai Li were protecting, and he knew who that must be.

Body bent low to the ground, Zuko crept closer to the agent. He twitched slightly; in this silence he could hear every padded footstep he made. And the quick breathing, slightly muffled, meant that whoever this agent was guarding knew someone was out there.

_It's just me, Uncle. There's nothing to be afraid of. It's just me._

His back ached from the unnatural body position and he stood up briefly to relieve the pressure. Then he bent down and, grasping the agent by the lower legs, dragged the man to the other side so he could have access to the hatch down at the bottom of the door. He swung his bag over his shoulder and onto the ground, then pulled out the food and tea. A dingy tray was lying on the ground upside down; he snatched it and placed the food and tea on it. He unlatched the bottom door and slid in the food.

From this angle, he could see nothing. The damn mask was blocking his view. But his ears told him everything; he heard a slightly heavy body shift in there, heard the objects he had pushed in move about, and then rose to his feet. All was well.

For one moment he entertained the silly thought that maybe this wasn't his uncle, that Azula had anticipated this move and had moved Uncle elsewhere, leaving him to feed some hapless confused prisoner.

_Stop that! You made no mistakes this time. Everything's done perfectly, even that note. It pays to be around Azula sometimes, taking things she won't miss. Like her seal._

There was a spewing noise and Zuko winced, his shoulders tightening. He remembered quite distinctively the look on Uncle's face way back when, after Azula had struck him when nobody expected it. He had tried to make tea the way Uncle liked it from the little supply they had left, and the old man had nearly spit out the first sip. But Zuko had let that pass.

He rose to his feet and peered into the prison cell from the window at the top. And suddenly, his vision blurred.

_No, I am not crying. I'm-damn mask! I'm not crying! I'm not…I'm…maybe I am. Uncle, it's good to see you again._

He opened his mouth to say that last sentence but instead he whispered, "Uncle…I need your help. I think I made a mistake…and I'm trying to fix it."

His heart lurched as the old man looked up at him, at the mask, really. There was a bemused look on the former general's face.

"What are you doing here?" Uncle said carefully. His voice was neutral, devoid of emotions. Zuko swallowed; he had hoped the old man would express something more. Relief would've been fine; he'd even accept anger, knowing how much his actions must've hurt his uncle. Or…maybe he didn't know, but he could assume it. Anyone would've been mad, right?

"I'm…I'm trying to get you out of here," he explained flatly, with some embarrassment.

Uncle shook his head. "That is not possible."

"Not here. I can't just open this door and get you out of the city. I have another plan, and I want you to-"

"You don't understand, Prince Zuko," Uncle began and Zuko flinched at the title. How he hated it when his uncle said it.

"Don't call me that!"

"Why not? You are Prince Zuko again, aren't you? After what you did down in old Ba Sing Sei-"

"Stop it! Stop it, Uncle!" Desperation was working its way into his voice and he clenched his fists, pressed his trembling body against the door. "Don't…don't talk about what happened down there. I _know_ what I did and I'm sorry-"

"Are you?" The old man now studied the food in front of him. Delicately he picked up a piece of meat with the chopsticks Zuko supplied and placed it in his mouth. "Are you really sorry about what you did, Prince Zuko? I am not certain I can trust your words-"

"WHY NOT!" Zuko yelled, then grimaced and bowed his head. Great. His plans were crumbling. How stupid was he? How could he have not foreseen this? He had everything down pat except for the one thing that mattered most – his uncle's cooperation. After everything he's done and gone through, his uncle won't even hear him out.

There was a heavy silence, broken now and then by his heavy frustrated breathing.

"…Father's going to kill you," he found himself whispering.

Something clattered to the floor. Zuko surmised it was a chopstick.

"…I know," came the weary response a minute later.

"…I don't think that's fair," Zuko continued. He removed the mask and leaned his head against the cool metal cell door.

"…traitors die, Zuko. I am a traitor. Have been ever since the North Pole-"

"But what have you done wrong? All you did was bring back the moon! There's nothing wrong with that!" He remembered that wintertime fiasco, all right. Some nights he'd dream of every single moment, every single breath he took since sneaking out of Zhao's flagship in the kayak.

"What have you done wrong, Zuko? You spoke out at the war council and for that you were banished. If you were anybody else, you would've been branded a traitor to your father, and you would've died. You were his son; that's why he banished you."

"You're his brother."

"I…no longer consider him my brother."

His breath caught in his throat. What?

Uncle must've taken his silence to mean Zuko wanted an explanation. "He is lost to me, Zuko. Your father is no longer the man I remember. Your…your mother…would not have loved and respected him had she known what he did to you-"

"I don't want to talk about her," he said coldly and Uncle fell silent. "I just…I just want you to understand, Uncle. Ever since that battle…I've been thinking. Nothing felt right to me. I thought about honor and…this is not the honor I'm looking for. It doesn't feel like it."

"You're hoping that freeing me would restore that honor."

"Maybe."

"You realize, Zuko, that if you do this you will become traitor to your nation again-"

"You said it yourself, Uncle. I became a traitor long ago. But I became a traitor for all the right reasons."

"I suppose," Uncle said doubtfully. "But tell me, Zuko: what really changed your mind?"

"I…" His voice caught in his throat. "Remember that fever I had?"

"How can I forget? I was afraid you'd die. That was a serious illness-it came back, didn't it? You had that fever again."

Zuko nodded, knowing the old man wouldn't see it. "I…I started reliving everything. I heard voices, so many voices, saw so many memories…I started wondering whether I did anything right…or did everything wrong. I…I said I changed…and I want to believe it, but I don't know exactly how I've changed."

Uncle said nothing, so Zuko continued. "You asked me who I was and what I wanted to do with my life. I really don't know. I'm still searching, Uncle. But I want to do it with a free conscience. If that means betraying the Fire Nation again so you'll go free, then so be it. I'll do it."

He heard his uncle move in the cell. "Zuko-"

"And one more thing."

"What?"

"I want you…to find the Avatar…and…teach him…" Zuko swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. He opened his mouth but no sound came out. His voice was rebelling him, daring him to say the forbidden.

"To firebend," Uncle finished for him, his voice soft. "Nephew, are you sure of this?"

"Yes…" he whispered. "Yes, I'm sure."

"This is most unexpected. What really changed you, Zuko? Since when did you care-"

"Because it feels right!" Zuko hissed. Uncle was questioning him again, and he didn't want to start thinking about the right and wrong of things. It led to nowhere. "It just feels right, teaching him to firebend. Besides, you're the only one who can teach him; he even went looking for you, knowing he needed your help to get-get us out of the catacombs-"

"Actually, _I_ went looking for him," Uncle corrected. "I could not find you without the young Avatar's help, so I sought him out. His blind friend vouched for me, so the Avatar and the waterbender's brother agreed to help me find you. "

"It's all the same to me – you have his trust; I know you do. You have to find him, Uncle. You can teach him to firebend, and he'll keep you safe. That's all I need."

"Zuko, this is a must unusual plan you've come up with, but it really does make sense. And it could work, except for one minor problem."

"What?"

"How on earth are you going to get me out of here and away from your sister? You know she never lets you near me, and I still can't understand how you managed to drug everyone down here-"

"And the palace."

"The palace? You drugged everyone? Nephew, that's real dangerous, and quite impressive. You're full of surprises today, Zuko."

"I had to work at it," Zuko said mildly, a smile creeping into his features. There was Madame Wu and her herbal concoction, the palace to sneak out of, the walls to hop over, the two guards and the cart full of cabbages, Jin…speaking of Jin…

"I found Jin, Uncle. She's…she's worried for you."

"Oh? Well, that's thoughtful of her, although I don't know how she knows of my situation…and why'd you find her?"

"Well, actually…" He still remembered that sudden slap on his face. "Actually she found me. I was trying to get into the lower rings, and some guards spotted me. I tried to get away and ducked into an alley…I guess she heard the commotion, made the connection and followed me….I explained everything to her, Uncle. She hopes you're okay."

"Well the next time I see her, I should thank her for thinking upon me so kindly. And how'd she take to you, Zuko?"

"Um…" Should he? "Let's just say I had some explaining to do."

"Ah…so, Nephew, what is it exactly that you're planning to do?"

"You're leaving the day after tomorrow. Azula's sending Mai and Ty Lee with you down to a Fire Nation Port south of Ba Sing Sei, with some soldiers and Dai Li agents. I'm supposed to leave the next day with the other Dai LI to find the Avatar. I'll come to your camp during the night…"

XXX

Azula didn't return to the throne room after watching Mai and Ty Lee leave with the Dai Li, the soldiers, and the precious cargo in the ostrich horse-drawn prison wagon. Instead she gestured to her agents Gao and Aiji, and strode back into the palace and through a different hall. There was another destination on her agenda, and someone she had to meet.

"Your Highness," said the two Dai Li agents as she quickened her pace towards them and the dungeons they guarded. They were young, easily impressed, and she made sure of that; the other agents filled them in with horror stories of the previous guards, the ones who had let her down a few nights before.

"Open the dungeons. There's someone I wish to speak to," she said in her coldest no-nonsense voice. The guards obeyed hastily, shuffling noisily through the keys and jamming the right one in the lock. The door was barely halfway open when Azula stepped smartly into the dungeon's main hall. She stopped as soon as Gao and Aiji joined her, then nodded to them to lead the way. Swiftly they guided her down the hall and into smaller ones, negotiating the corners and crossroads quite professionally as they lead her deeper and deeper into the heart of the prisons.

"And what of the boy?" she suddenly asked, looking to Gao for an answer.

"He'll live. They've done their work well. He'll be deployed in no time at all, Your Highness."

They turned into a corridor, where two guards stood at attention in front of a prison cell. They immediately moved to the other side as Azula approached.

"Open the door," she ordered. One of the Dai Li quickly pulled a set of keys from the folds of his tunic and sorted through them. She waited with growing impatience as the man finally found the right one and inserted it in the door of the prison cell. The moment she heard the click, she stepped forward, pushed the agent out of the way, and then opened the cell door.

It was a bare cold room, faintly lit by the dim torch like from the outside. There was nothing in there, not a bin or a cot or even a customary tin cup of water. It was, after all, meant to be a temporary holding cell. She looked down at the lone man occupying the cell; he sat cross-legged, his head bowed, his long, dirty, brown hair hung over his shadowed face. He wore the clothes of the Dai Li but they were soiled.

"Xuan Ji, is it?" Azula said softly, a predatory smile flashing across her face.

The man raised his eyes to her. She began to pace around him with her hands behind her back as she watched him from the corner of her eye. Aiji and Gao stood at the doorway; she gestured with her eyes and they stepped back, closed the door.

Azula stopped in front of the door and turned on the disgraced agent.

"Inform me, Xuan Ji, of what took place two nights ago in the prison cell opposite yours," she continued. "I'm more than certain something happened in Iroh's cell…and this is your chance to disprove all the rumors and accusations against you. You may have a chance to redeem yourself, am I clear?"

The man slowly nodded.

"Good. Now dictate everything to me, _everything_."

**XXX**

Author's Endnote: Chapter 9 probably won't be updated at the regular time, but I think you'll like it. Triple-proofreading each chapter is a nightmare. Lots of crazy stuff going on with this chapter; hope you digested everything all right.

Reviews are deeply appreciated.

Next chapter: the aftereffects of Ba Sing Sei may be the Avatar's undoing…


	9. A Series of Unfortunate Events

**An Unfortunate Series of Events**

The Saturday before the unfortunate Virginia Tech shooting my laptop crashed. Since I could back up the hard drive, that didn't matter much to me. But my little Mini Cruzer, which carried all my working fanfiction and notes at the time, got corrupted with the crash, so I lost everything.

Really.

Y'know, I could've lost my cousin that Monday. He's a freshman at Virginia Tech, majoring in engineering, living in the same dorm as the first shootings. He was just _one_ floor below where the first two victims fell.

But this is about the fanfiction. I don't know if I can carry on, after losing everything like that. My mind's a blank slate. I've lost all my notes, and whatever I had of Chapter 5 rewritten.

I also lost all the other shorts for my other _ATLA_ fanfiction.

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But this is the end. I'll content myself with waiting for _Book 3: Fire._

Shirozora


End file.
